Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 19

Thread: 35mm color enlarger for 4x5 b&w contact printing?

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Posts
    14

    35mm color enlarger for 4x5 b&w contact printing?

    I'd like to play with some 4x5 contact printing, starting out with black and white, but I would like to do some color in the future. From my research it seems like there's no problem using a 35mm enlarger for 4x5 contact printing, but I'm not really sure what models I should be searching for exactly. Do you all have some suggestions for something affordable that will fit the bill? I plan on using it for contact printing only.

    Thanks!

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Beijing
    Posts
    214

    Re: 35mm color enlarger for 4x5 b&w contact printing?

    I contact print using a light bulb. If you want affordable, that's the way to go.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Posts
    2,084

    Re: 35mm color enlarger for 4x5 b&w contact printing?

    Pretty much any color enlarger will do, really. Just get whatever is available. I've done it with a Durst 605 because it's what I have sitting on my bench. Works perfectly. Aligning the neg and the paper in the dark under a sheet of glass can be a bit tricky, but you'll figure it out. It's easier if the neg and the paper are the same size.

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Posts
    1,573

    Re: 35mm color enlarger for 4x5 b&w contact printing?

    I use my Beseler 45M for contact printing with enlarging papers; I've had it for 40 years and it's sitting there. I use a light bulb for contact printing on much slower papers like Lodima and Adox Lupex.

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Posts
    4,566

    Re: 35mm color enlarger for 4x5 b&w contact printing?

    Quote Originally Posted by fulltang View Post
    I plan on using it for contact printing only.

    Take the cheapest you find. For comfort, you may remove the red disc filter under the lens, then you place on th eempty support the constrast filter you want.


    I've been contact printing a lot with something like this:

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	61aT0li-06L._SL1000_.jpg 
Views:	8 
Size:	52.7 KB 
ID:	194856


    This ir not IR commanded, but it is a radio remote, so you glue the remote on the table (with a velcro) and you set Yellow or Purple one after the other with different times for different contrast levels, a metronome is nice to count seconds. You dodge while the low contrast (yellow) or the high contrast (purple) exposure. Later to set Purple to burn the shadows and Yellow to burn the highlights, if necessary ...or you press Red and you have safe light. A joy !!


    You may place (perhaps) the rgb bulb inside the enlarger or in the bare ceiling.

  6. #6

    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Posts
    2,084

    Re: 35mm color enlarger for 4x5 b&w contact printing?

    Note that the color led bulb may be OK for b&with, but it's highly unlikely to work well with color. I've been toying with rgb leds for color a lot lately and products like these just don't cut it. A proper led approach with the currently available materials requires engineering a light source from scratch. The easiest solution for color contact printing is just to pick up a working color enlarger with a dichroic head. With a little bit of luck, a 35mm unit will cost the same as the Chinese led bulb...

    Also the red "safelight" of this rgb led bulb may or may not be (likely not) entirely safe for vc papers. You'll get away with slow warmtone papers, but the faster papers are likely to suffer from fogging or at least reduced contrast. The problem is in the red leds which have secondary emission lines in the green and yellow part of the spectrum.

    One more addition: the off the shelf rgb led solutions are unlikely to give maximal contrast with vc papers as the blue leds are generally not giving the sufficiently small wavelength and are too close to green. You'll get grade 4 or 4.5 max.

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Posts
    4,566

    Re: 35mm color enlarger for 4x5 b&w contact printing?

    Quote Originally Posted by koraks View Post
    I've been toying with rgb leds for color a lot lately and products like these just don't cut it.
    For color you may use a CRI 98 warm white LED to substitute the tungsten bulb in dichroic head with a perfect match, or you may provide cyan and yellow additional sources to adjust channel crosstalk from the RGB bulb.



    Quote Originally Posted by koraks View Post
    Also the red "safelight" of this rgb led bulb may or may not be (likely not) entirely safe for vc papers.
    Red from RGB bulbs is perfectly safe, at least the four I've tried are perfectly safe. Every safe light has to be tested to know the distance-time at what it becomes unsafe. Take your safest light and put the paper on it, it will get fogged for sure.



    Quote Originally Posted by koraks View Post
    One more addition: the off the shelf rgb led solutions are unlikely to give maximal contrast with vc papers as the blue leds are generally not giving the sufficiently small wavelength and are too close to green. You'll get grade 4 or 4.5 max.
    Blue from RGB bulbs deliver perfect grade contrast 5, no doubt. Even a dichroic color head delivers 5 grade, and its blue channel delivers way more "green close spectrum" than the blue share in a RGB bulb.


    I calibrated paper with the RGB bulb, I could get all grades.

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	grades.jpg 
Views:	9 
Size:	33.2 KB 
ID:	194881


    And no fog at all, all that paper was illuminated with the red from the rgb bulb, white is absolutely perfect.

  8. #8

    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Posts
    1,573

    Re: 35mm color enlarger for 4x5 b&w contact printing?

    Another anomaly that I found when trying to use LED bulbs for contact printing is that they don't shut off like a standard incandescent bulb; that is, it "fades to black." Probably not enough light or time to affect the paper, but it bothered me so I went back to a standard flood.

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Posts
    4,566

    Re: 35mm color enlarger for 4x5 b&w contact printing?

    Quote Originally Posted by Alan9940 View Post
    Another anomaly that I found when trying to use LED bulbs for contact printing is that they don't shut off like a standard incandescent bulb; that is, it "fades to black." Probably not enough light or time to affect the paper, but it bothered me so I went back to a standard flood.
    Mine stops inmediately.

    A tungnsten bulb has transitories because of heating-cooling in the filament, a LED has not that problem. If your LED bulb "fades to black" for visual comfort then try with another model.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Posts
    14

    Re: 35mm color enlarger for 4x5 b&w contact printing?

    Thank you all for the guidance, while I'm on the lookout for a real enlarger in my area, I decided to pick up pretty much the exact same RGB bulb (6w):

    Quote Originally Posted by Pere Casals View Post
    Take the cheapest you find. For comfort, you may remove the red disc filter under the lens, then you place on th eempty support the constrast filter you want.


    I've been contact printing a lot with something like this:

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	61aT0li-06L._SL1000_.jpg 
Views:	8 
Size:	52.7 KB 
ID:	194856


    This ir not IR commanded, but it is a radio remote, so you glue the remote on the table (with a velcro) and you set Yellow or Purple one after the other with different times for different contrast levels, a metronome is nice to count seconds. You dodge while the low contrast (yellow) or the high contrast (purple) exposure. Later to set Purple to burn the shadows and Yellow to burn the highlights, if necessary ...or you press Red and you have safe light. A joy !!


    You may place (perhaps) the rgb bulb inside the enlarger or in the bare ceiling.

    I was wondering what distance you have your bulb and what exposure times you would recommend as a starting point for standard ilford multigrade paper?


    An unrelated question, can you only buy 4x5 paper in the 1000 sheet boxes from ilford? I found a video from Tim Klein (creator of the sp-445) in which he used the sp-445 to develop contact prints with 4x5 paper, which I think is a really neat way to make contact prints without a full darkroom.

Similar Threads

  1. Color Contact printing
    By argos33 in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 31-Oct-2007, 14:30
  2. contact printing -what is the best color paper?
    By Terence Spross in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 16-Sep-2005, 10:02
  3. Using a 35mm enlarger as a light source for 5x7 contact printing
    By candy Popp in forum Darkroom: Film, Processing & Printing
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 5-Jan-2002, 23:03

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •