Enlarger Contact Printing is Good Bad ugly?

[Tin Can]

I noticed in another thread a conversation starting about using bare bulb, enlarger heads and any other combo we can think of, for contact printing.

I have been using 5x7 Elwood with 250 watt tungsten big bulb, without a lens, but added diffusion gels to cut output and diffuse...using the hole where a lens would screw into.

I use the Elwood because it's right there over my vacuum table and figured why not...

Works for me, but watt (couldn't resist!) is your prefered method?

And why?

[Oren Grad]

I like contact printing on variable-contrast enlarging paper, so my enlarger with color head is ideal as a light source - it's hard to imagine anything more convenient. And I already owned it, so nothing to buy.

But one of the nice things about contact printing is that you really can do it with an ultra-spartan, ultra-cheap setup if taste or budget dictate. All's fair!

[Wayne]

Super Chromega

[Liquid Artist]

I've only made contact prints under my enlarger, and rarely at that so I'm no expert.
However I can say that it works and appears to do a good job. So I'll continue to do the same thing until I have a reason to change.
Which may be coming soon, if I get the 11x14 I want.

[pdh]

I like contact printing on variable-contrast enlarging paper, so my enlarger with color head is ideal as a light source - it's hard to imagine anything more convenient. And I already owned it, so nothing to buy.

me also.

no problems experienced. I'm of the "defocused" school, though there are adherents of the "focused" school who also seem to get perfectly good results.

[Bruce Barlow]

I'm a triple-threat: enlarger for VC, stronger bulb for Azo, UV box for PT/PD.

PT/PD is my favorite, because I can do it with the lights on, and multi-task with the longer exposure times.

[cdholden]

No enlarger here. Just contact prints exposed with a bulb in a circular reflector (some call these work lights). Developed, stopped, fixed and washed in trays. It sounds primitive because it is. I can move this setup and be productive anywhere it's clean and dark with running water.

[William Whitaker]

I like using an enlarger for conventional contact printing because of the control it gives me over the light. But in the past I have done contact printing on a bathroom counter (at night) and made my exposure by simply flipping the vanity light on for a few seconds using the wall switch. Pretty crude, but it worked.

[DannL]

I posted this elsewhere, also. Nothing special, that's for sure. A 15 watt bulb in a Kodak safe-light housing. 6" Polycontrast filters cut to fit. A plastic coffee-can lid cut to fit, and is used as a diffuser. There are also several stops cut from black paper, used to control exposure.

[jbenedict]

I prefer the enlarger method because it is consistent and repeatable.