12x20 enlarger lens suggestions

[wborders]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for an enlarger lens that I can use to double my 12x20 negative to get a 24x40 print. Specific recommendations would be very helpful.

Thanks

[LabRat]

First, do you have an enlarger that can handle 12 X 20???

You can consider getting a light source for your camera back, and start with using the taking lens...

Figure about how much bellows extension/FL you will need for your enlargement size/ratio first...

A lot of other details also have to be answered...

Steve K

[wborders]

So, no. I have a 4x5 enlarger. I have read the 20x24" Enlarger thread and know that there are LOTS of other details to answer. But, I have to start somewhere. hahaha. I've read that photo enlarging got its start with using the camera the picture was taken from, which in my case is a Folmer & Schwing and the lenses are Nikkor-M 450 f9 and a B&L 11x17 Tessar IIb.
Thanks!

[Tin Can]

Have you studied Glennview Cameras yet?

http://www.glennview.com/810.htm




So, no. I have a 4x5 enlarger. I have read the 20x24" Enlarger thread and know that there are LOTS of other details to answer. But, I have to start somewhere. hahaha. I've read that photo enlarging got its start with using the camera the picture was taken from, which in my case is a Folmer & Schwing and the lenses are Nikkor-M 450 f9 and a B&L 11x17 Tessar IIb.
Thanks!

[jnantz]

i was going to suggest looking up thomas yanul
but it looks like he passed away :(
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-04-07/news/ct-thomas-yanul-obituary-met-20140407_1_panoramic-peggy-glowacki-chicago
wicked nice guy
thank goodness the internet is the internet
http://web.archive.org/web/20110315064643/http://thomasyanul.com
http://thomasyanul.com

if you look under "my lab"
you will see a GIANT enlarger he made to enlarge his 20x24 negatives
"THE ENLARGER - 760MM NIKKOR LENS and SHORTER LENSES AVAILABLE 2000/4000W PULSED XENON LIGHT SOURCE"

[Tin Can]

Thanks, John, I was fully unaware of Yanul. I sure missed the boat. Looking through links, I liked this eulogy.

"He was getting to a point in his life when he wanted to ensure that his work would be useful, that it would last," Glowacki said.

"He had a romantic view of life," Doctors said. "He thought history should be recorded."

He expressed the same thought to the Tribune in 1988. "I'm leaving my photographs behind. That's my legacy."

Mr. Yanul's wife, Natalia, died in 2010.

Services were held."

Chicago is still changing fast, teardown and new building proceed at an amazing pace. Hopefully, another visionary photographer is at work.

I for one miss the dark corners, even the marks of decay. One reason I left Chicago was the view from my front door changed. The city decided grey concrete was more interesting...and 1000 more apts were built right next to this new attraction. A converted train route.


My prefered Art for 13 years. The painted underpass was used almost every day for wedding shots, movies and photo student practice. The whole 3 miles were sand blasted to blankness and appeals to the Artist in Charge were fruitless.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4611/25943775428_7a4ed74dbf.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/FwyCyU)1-The-Witch-30x42 (https://flic.kr/p/FwyCyU) by moe.randy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr


https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4652/38917607115_cf8d2beddd.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/22i1UJ8)6-13-2015 606 pinhole (https://flic.kr/p/22i1UJ8) by moe.randy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr

[ic-racer]

14" was the largest commonly available enlarger from Saltzman, and DeVere. With the advent of high-power panel-type LED lighting, conversion of your camera to an enlarger can be quite viable. Especially if you built you camera, you know the back mechanics and could figure how to adapt the light source and make the negative carrier.

[William Whitaker]

Just a thought... Since your 12x20 is a Folmer, you may find the whole process to be complicated by the fact that the Folmer & Schwing banquet cameras do not have removable backs. You might be better off building from scratch.

[wborders]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Will Whitaker is right. The F&S does not have a removable back. However, between the link that Randy Moe sent and the Thomas Yanul darkroom pictures I have an idea of how to start.

[Luis-F-S]

Wow, 4x5 to 12x20 enlarging. Now that's a jump! Good luck!

[Pere Casals]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for an enlarger lens that I can use to double my 12x20 negative to get a 24x40 print. Specific recommendations would be very helpful.

Thanks

As it is only a 2x enlargement you can use your taking lens working as enlarging lens without noticing a flaw in the print. Major issue would be focus flatness, but you can stop severely the lens to gain the DOF that overcomes that problem.

At the end you need only 6 lp/mm in the print, this is resolving 12 lp/mm in the negative carrier plane, so you can stop to f/64 (even f/90 !) for the dof sake without noticing a flaw in the print. (IMHO)

Using the taking lens as the enlarging lens has a wide historic record, of course this has drawbacks compared to dedicated enlarger glass, but IMHO you are not to see that at all in a x2 enlargement, as today you can throw a lot of (little heat) LED light to the diffuser, say 100w led (0r 200), and then stopping a lot for dof.

I used a Sironar-N 300 MC for tests in a DIY enlarger, and it was not working bad at all for x4 enlargements, if stopping enough for focus flatness. For x4 enlargement the lens can be stopped to 45 (or even 64) without diffraction damaging on paper resolution. Nobody can see more than 6 line pairs per mm in a print, even with nose on it, not necessary to speak about it if the 40" print is viewed at the distance that people normally observe a 40" thing.

As you already have your taking lens, there is nothing wrong in to try with it.

[Drew Wiley]

450 Apo Nikkor dialyte.

[Luis-F-S]

450 Apo Nikkor dialyte.


Yup or just about any process lens of that focal length or longer.

[Drew Wiley]

A 600 Apo Nikkor would be even better optically, but I didn't mention it because it would need a bellows as long as a whale at that magnification.

[LabRat]

12X20 is a nice size to contact print...

Not big enough??? (You can also include an oversize overmat)

Steve K

[John Layton]

To shrink that whale just a bit...might you consider something like a 14" Blue-Dot Trigor? I had amazing luck with this lens (for photographing) on 11x14 awhile ago...and am thinking that its design might just make it appropriate for your desired use as a moderate wide enlarging lens.

[Luis-F-S]

To shrink that whale just a bit...might you consider something like a 14" Blue-Dot Trigor? I had amazing luck with this lens (for photographing) on 11x14 awhile ago...and am thinking that its design might just make it appropriate for your desired use as a moderate wide enlarging lens.

So would a 14" G-Claron, but I just don't think it's ever going to happen!

[Drew Wiley]

Trigors seem to either come free on some thrown-out process camera, or cost a couple thousand bucks from someone who actually knows what they are.

[Tin Can]

Let's go with the 600 APO Nikkor. He wants 2/1. He needs 50" of bellows.

Right?

Which is not that big a problem horizontally.

I have shot my 900 mm Jena 2/1 with 72" bellows on an S11.

[Tin Can]

Incorrect. AGAIN!

Read this. http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/archive/index.php/t-47959.html



Let's go with the 600 APO Nikkor. He wants 2/1. He needs 50" of bellows.

Right?

Which is not that big a problem horizontally.

I have shot my 900 mm Jena 2/1 with 72" bellows on an S11.

[Drew Wiley]

Thank goodness for modern technology. Soon it will be possible to splice the long-arm genes of an orangutan onto the embryo of a future ULF photographer.

[Tin Can]

I heard today they are cloning monkeys. I am therefore sure people are also cloned.

Get me out of here!

[wborders]

12X20 is a nice size to contact print...

Not big enough??? (You can also include an oversize overmat)

Steve K

Actually, maybe. I belong to a camera club in the metro Philadelphia area. Currently I'm the only one printing negatives on silver gelatin or as scanned digital prints. There is something amazing about contact prints. However, in our last show, in conjunction with another camera club, much larger inkjet prints dominate the gallery. What to do. Or should I do anything? I've decided that while there are still rolls of silver gelatin paper to buy, I'm making the commitment to "hang" with this digital larger prints. hahaha. Here's a local organization were one can rent time in a digital lab and pay for paper and ink. http://www.philaphotoarts.org/

[Pere Casals]

Thank goodness for modern technology. Soon it will be possible to splice the long-arm genes of an orangutan onto the embryo of a future ULF photographer.

Problem would be the same, if arms x2 then ULF photographers would want x3 plates :)

[William Whitaker]

...in our last show, in conjunction with another camera club, much larger inkjet prints dominate the gallery. What to do. Or should I do anything?

Quit worryin' about it. Size isn't everything. Make the best contact print in the best presentation you can and move on.

[Drew Wiley]

No difference when it comes to inkjet. Big, Bigger, More Bigger. It's never enough. I like Translate that into, Who cares anymore? I like making beautiful prints, not competing with a billboard company. The galleries must be getting desperate if all they know what to do is crank up the volume of square footage. Pathetic.

[Vaughn]

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for an enlarger lens that I can use to double my 12x20 negative to get a 24x40 print. Specific recommendations would be very helpful.

Thanks

Go for it! or...create images that use two or more 12x20 negatives. Going big is just a matter of technique and equipment. Thinking and creating big is a whole new ballgame.

[Drew Wiley]

Diptychs. One more reason I want a big Speedmat cutter.