View Full Version : Intrepid Tiny Format Enlarger
Tin Can
19-Mar-2021, 11:09
KS just opened
This will be a good gauge of roll film
You can find the link
Good for them!
I hope those here who've had their enlargers for longer than I've been alive can keep the obvious potential downsides of this to themselves. Everyone knows already, but this isn't a product for you - it's for new practitioners of wet printing, to dip their toes in. Let's encourage it! Maybe your enlargers will increase in value because of these types of new products...
PS: GREAT inclusion of the "scanning" light source as an additional use-case! Bravo Max and I look forward to Intrepid's continued success.
Tin Can
19-Mar-2021, 11:58
Bryan, I agree
Have you ever seen the movie ‘Grumpy Old Men’?
I think I've seen it "live" multiple times, if you catch my drift ;).
Anyways - would be interesting to see what folks doing camera scanning think of this. Using colored light to pre-nullify the C-41 mask is an interesting concept I have seen experimented with.
Why is it not good? I don’t see a problem as long as you can align it and keep it stable during print.
Luis-F-S
20-Mar-2021, 06:29
Why is it not good? I don’t see a problem as long as you can align it and keep it stable during print.
Alignment is the problem
Tin Can
20-Mar-2021, 06:44
Which can be controlled by careful user
I have had to align all my traditional monsters
Alignment is the problem
interneg
20-Mar-2021, 07:03
Good for them!
I hope those here who've had their enlargers for longer than I've been alive can keep the obvious potential downsides of this to themselves. Everyone knows already, but this isn't a product for you - it's for new practitioners of wet printing, to dip their toes in. Let's encourage it! Maybe your enlargers will increase in value because of these types of new products...
PS: GREAT inclusion of the "scanning" light source as an additional use-case! Bravo Max and I look forward to Intrepid's continued success.
I think it's a very smart idea - in fact, it's the sort of enlarger 'camera' I think that would have been a better idea than the initial enlarger back for the 4x5. Hopefully it'll be modular enough to scale it up to bigger negs - and it is a remarkable price overall. Sure it isn't made from machined castings etc, but it doesn't cost thousands of pounds either. I also suspect that most people using it won't be printing to massive sizes - though I imagine it'll be very amenable to wall projection with a good studio stand/ pedestal...
Alignment is the problem
Alignment is problem for any enlarger and any enlarger can be out of alignment, I personally don’t think the alignment issue is specific for this enlarger.
GRAYnomad
20-Mar-2021, 17:22
I think it's brilliant. Hopefully the next model will do 5x4.
Luis-F-S
20-Mar-2021, 20:24
Yes, you align a traditional enlarger once and then hopefully stays in alignment. You check it occasionally. Quite different from aligning it every time you want to use it.
Tin Can
21-Mar-2021, 08:45
Lina made a review
Intrepid Enlarger Prototype Review (https://youtu.be/3Tzdp_lgxy0)
Very interesting
Luis-F-S
21-Mar-2021, 10:22
She didn’t print with it or check the alignment. Maybe now she can get rid of her 11x14 enlargers
Yes, you align a traditional enlarger once and then hopefully stays in alignment. You check it occasionally. Quite different from aligning it every time you want to use it.
Well hopefully this one will stay aligned as well. I mean as long there is hope, I still don’t see why it is such a big issue. Plus as it is small and light, being out of alignment is harder plus if it is, it is much easier to correct.
interneg
21-Mar-2021, 15:29
Sure, a De Vere 504/507/5108 etc tends to stay locked in alignment very well indeed, but a new one is many, many times the price of the Intrepid. How well does your average Beseler or Omega (or Durst for that matter) really stay in alignment? None of their designs are really very good for allowing solid locking of alignment-critical parts. Some of the mass produced high-precision parts that Intrepid is able to exploit today simply weren't really available (let alone cheap enough to be used profitably) to enlarger manufacturers in the 70s/80s.
Luis-F-S
21-Mar-2021, 16:08
My DeVere 5108 stays in alignment, I gave 4 away last year and one went to the dumpster. My LPL 4500II also stays aligned! L
Luis-F-S
21-Mar-2021, 16:10
......I still don’t see why it is such a big issue.
Well, you've obviously never printed extensively, or you'd see why it's such a big issue.
Tin Can
22-Mar-2021, 10:10
Direct quote from Intrepid email today
'Our new Compact Enlarger isn't just a great solution for printing 35mm and 120, you can also use it to make incredible contact prints from your Large Format negatives. You do this by pressing your negative directly onto a sheet of Black & White or Colour photographic paper in a contact printing frame, then project the light from the enlarger onto it, creating a beautiful 1:1 Print from your negative.'
Video made January, make LF contact prints with the tiny enlarger!
https://youtu.be/CpNIQ_M0mS0
Well, you've obviously never printed extensively, or you'd see why it's such a big issue.
Actually I’ve printed enough, enlarging a 35mm to 10x12 enough times that I know what alignment is, why it is important and more importantly how to do it.
What I think is, just because it is small and looks light compare to your huge enlargers, you devalue the item without even trying one. Like you do alignment your other enlargers, you have to align this enlarger. Once you do it, it will stay aligned. If it doesn’t it is because your copy stand, again nothing to do with the item itself. And similar issues can happen to any “old” enlargers because their friction and knob mechanisms are not great anymore. If there is no force on it, objects tend to not move too much :)
So the alignment issue is not different than your enlargers.
My DeVere 5108 stays in alignment, I gave 4 away last year and one went to the dumpster. My LPL 4500II also stays aligned! L
So you aligned them when you bought and never check their alignment again? Is this what you are saying?
Luis-F-S
23-Mar-2021, 06:07
You check it occasionally. Quite different from aligning it every time you want to use it.
What was it about what I wrote that you didn’t understand?
Michael R
24-Mar-2021, 07:13
I have to admit I like this thing, especially the controller.
Regarding alignment, true that it isn’t ideal but I don’t think it would be that difficult to do.
Tin Can
17-Apr-2021, 12:13
Under 24 hours to go
They are 12X above their goal!
Who says film enlargers are DEAD
Tin Can
17-Apr-2021, 13:29
The Intrepid 35mm/120 Compact Enlarger ‘Redefines The Darkroom’ (https://petapixel.com/2021/03/19/the-intrepid-35mm-120-compact-enlarger-redefines-the-darkroom/)
Great concept but a failed application.
I have received mine with great excitement but realized very quickly, lens plane and film plane are not parallel, with a laser alignment tool. The problem is one cannot align lens plane separately at all without moving film plane as well as they are locked to each other so it is not possible to get a edge to edge sharp print at all. Looks like I’ll stick to their 4x5 enlarger as you can align every piece separately to get a sharp print.
Max Grew
8-Nov-2021, 03:18
Great concept but a failed application.
I have received mine with great excitement but realized very quickly, lens plane and film plane are not parallel, with a laser alignment tool. The problem is one cannot align lens plane separately at all without moving film plane as well as they are locked to each other so it is not possible to get a edge to edge sharp print at all. Looks like I’ll stick to their 4x5 enlarger as you can align every piece separately to get a sharp print.
Hello faith, I have just replied to your email but il mention this quickly on here too for any other Compact Enlarger users :)
There are four dome head screws on the light source part of the enlarger, they are attached to the mounting bracket that has the 1/4 thread cut into it. you can loosen these off slightly and it allows you to adjust the rear of the enlarger back into parallel. This will have been set in the workshop but it might have been knocked during transport or potentially an error on our side by not tightening them down enough after testing. Either way sorry that it didn't arrive spot on! you will need a 2mm allen key to adjust these screws and it should sort the problem out. also please make sure the two thumb nuts on the light source are tight when measuring for parallel,
- Best, Max
Hello faith, I have just replied to your email but il mention this quickly on here too for any other Compact Enlarger users :)
There are four dome head screws on the light source part of the enlarger, they are attached to the mounting bracket that has the 1/4 thread cut into it. you can loosen these off slightly and it allows you to adjust the rear of the enlarger back into parallel. This will have been set in the workshop but it might have been knocked during transport or potentially an error on our side by not tightening them down enough after testing. Either way sorry that it didn't arrive spot on! you will need a 2mm allen key to adjust these screws and it should sort the problem out. also please make sure the two thumb nuts on the light source are tight when measuring for parallel,
- Best, Max
Thanks Max, maybe I was too quick to post this. But other users might find it useful too :)
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