Film Output from Digital File

[willwilson]

I, like many of you I'm sure, constantly battle the dust demons. I typically take two shots of everything I shoot in 4x5, not only for dust avoidance, but for general back-up purposes. Well, this has generally worked very well for me, until now. I have a new negative that has a dust/hair spot in a very precarious place. Its back-up was a double exposure. This is a great negative and it needs saving. I do not print digital and I don't have the steadiest hands, so spotting the negative and digital scan/digital print are out.

Ideally I would like to have a high resolution drum scan made, do some photoshop touch up, and then have this file printed as a new 4x5 negative. I would then use this new negative to make a traditional print in sizes up to 20x24.

Has anyone done this before? If so, where did you have your negative printed?

Thanks, -=Will

[Ash]

It really depends on the size you're looking to have this in the end.

The old school way would be to enlarge the negative to a desired size, then spot it by hand on the print. Your original negative remains un-touched if you botch it. All you've lost is a print.

You then photograph the print to have your new negative.


I'm not sure I know of a process that will give your negative the resolution required if you try to 'print' it via a computer.

[photographs42]

You don’t indicate if the neg is color or B&W. I have done this with one B&W negative. The process works better with color but good results can be had with B&W.

You need to find a lab that has a film recorder. Usually the same company can do the scanning and it might be better that way because they control the whole process and they know what they need in scan quality etc. The problem with B&W is that, at least here in St. Louis, the output is a color negative even if the original is B&W.

In my case, I had to have the process done three or four times (at around $100.00 per) to get an acceptable negative. I switched from 4x5 to 5x7 shortly after I made this negative. I forced them to produce a B&W negative for me but in the end I had the best results with a color 8x10 with an image area about 5x6. I can print this up to 20x24 w/o a problem but 24x30 I can see a difference although I don’t think it is obvious.

I tried to get them to let me observe the process but for whatever reason, they wouldn’t let me, so I can’t tell you much more about how it works. I spent over $300.00 and a considerable amount of time doing this but it was a very popular image and after spotting about 30 prints I went this rout. I have since printed and sold over 300 prints from the digital negative and no one has noticed.

Jerome

[John Brady]

If Ansel Adams had this system available I'll bet he would have had time to make a lot more images in the field instead of spending his later years trapped in the dark room. Imagine correcting Moon Rise Hernandez once.

There are many professional lf photographers who use this system today. My understanding of the process is to have your original sheet of film scanned and ideally you would work with the digital file in photoshop to make all the necessary corrections, I don't think you can hand off what your interpretation of the image is. Spotting, tonal, burning, dodging, contrast color etc. Anything you would do prior to digitally printing or in the dark room. Then when you have it exactly like you want you send the file to a lab with a film recorder capable of producing the size negative your enlarger can handle. Just because it was shot on 4x5 film doesn't mean you couldn't make a 5x7 negative. Now every time you want to print it you will just expose the paper and process.
jb

[Capocheny]

Hi Will,

As the other posters have stated... a film output recorder is what is needed here. You might want to send Bob Carnie (Elevator in Toronto) a quick note and inquire as to whether they have such a service available or not.

[Btw, Bob is a forum member and I'm sure he'll respond if he sees this thread.]

West Coast Imaging might be another place to contact.

Good luck.

Cheers

[reellis67]

I believe that DR5 offers this service, you might check with them...

- Randy

[Lenny Eiger]

Ideally I would like to have a high resolution drum scan made, do some photoshop touch up, and then have this file printed as a new 4x5 negative. I would then use this new negative to make a traditional print in sizes up to 20x24.

Has anyone done this before? If so, where did you have your negative printed?

Thanks, -=Will

This is plenty do-able. You need to talk to someone with an LVT. This fellow is a consistent and knoweldgeable post on the Scan High End list.

JC Castronovo
http://technicalphoto.com/


Lenny

[Richard M. Coda]

Have your image scanned at your lab of preference. You will need at least 3048 dpi to get an almost exact copy of your neg for what I'm proposing.

Do your photoshop work, including burning dodging, spotting, etc (we're going after a perfect negative here).

Go to Chicago Albumen Works (Chicago) http://www.albumenworks.com/lvt_prices_working_photogs.htm

Have them output a new negative for you. Oleg is the man you want to speak with.

Go into your darkroom and have fun printing straight!

Not only have I used this procedure to "salvage" a bad negative of a good image, I used it to have a 4x5 film neg made from a DSLR (the Flag on my website... I only had my DSLR with me at the time). I now have a beautiful negative that I have printed (and sold) in my darkroom.

[willwilson]

wow, you guys are awesome. Thank you very much.