How Big Enlarge How BIG Copy for WEB

[Tin Can]

This type of question keeps coming up, a related thread Rodagon-G 360 for enlarging 5x7 12 times

This is a 2fer, first how big can film be optically enlarged and how big does a digital copy need to be for viewing on cell phones, Tablets, TV and a high grade monitor.

The below snapshot was made by very old Leica handheld. That's me and my bike. Shot 1987, the neg was sent to a mail order poster maker. Maybe $5 and 2 weeks. I reshot it (copied) 2 years ago with a handheld iphone SE, their cheapest phone.

Yes, I have posted this image before.

The print is 24X36" from a 35mm neg, my calculations make it a 25x enlargement

The downgraded by flicker copy below is 1365 X 2048 pixels

The discussion could be, what do we really need for Internet images that are never printed?

iPhone SEBSA 2 Skip Roman Leica IIIf by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr

[Drew Wiley]

Arrest him, quick! Marlon Brando about to trash a small California farm town again!

[Tin Can]

Actually it was set up for a friend to use for an audition. That day we shot 5 people with my costume and bike. I lived behind that wall and worked in a unheated alley garage 20 feet to the left.

Perhaps my best years!

Arrest him, quick! Marlon Brando about to trash a small California farm town again!

[Drew Wiley]

I just remember that the name of that little town was Earlimart, with the actual biker ruckus there being the basis for the classic movie, even fashion-wise with the captain's caps. That was quite close to Delano, where later, RFK made his famous march with field workers before he was assassinated. I recall rival biker gangs with Harley Hogs (Hell's Angels) vs another scruffy gang riding classic Indian motorcycles, then the split-off from the Hells Angels into the notorious Mongols, now officially outlawed in most of the West. On Sunday afternoon, looking down from my house on a rise, with the only straight section of a mountain road right below, and seeing as usual the Hells Angels doing wild stunts on their speeding bikes, even handstands on their seats 70mph unhelmeted, when one hit a chuckhole and fatally broke his neck on one of the neighbor's fenceposts. That ended their show-off streak once for all, at least along that particular section of road.

[Tin Can]

I hate all biker gangs

I have no fond memories of them

Seen too much

always a lone wolf

[Drew Wiley]

Now that's someone whose style I admire - Howlin' Wolf.

[Mark Sampson]

"How big can film be optically enlarged?" Using a Kodak Beacon Precision Enlarger, you could get 153x magnification. That was from small sections of aerial reconnaissance negatives. I used and trained people on that monster for 20+ years. Of course that machine was not useful for any type of conventional photography, so the answer isn't really an answer at all.
Ultimately, the enlargement capability of a ordinary camera negative is determined by the photographer's decision about what's "good enough" and what hardware (and paper) they have to make the biggest print. And of course final viewing distance plays a huge part.

[Tin Can]

Yes,

My point was, how does my crappy original, enlarged 25 times on something like newsprint, then aged under outgassing plastic for 32 years and copied by a cheap cell phone look on a cell phone.

It looks great on my iPhone and lousy on my monitor.

Opinions matter...

"How big can film be optically enlarged?" Using a Kodak Beacon Precision Enlarger, you could get 153x magnification. That was from small sections of aerial reconnaissance negatives. I used and trained people on that monster for 20+ years. Of course that machine was not useful for any type of conventional photography, so the answer isn't really an answer at all.
Ultimately, the enlargement capability of a ordinary camera negative is determined by the photographer's decision about what's "good enough" and what hardware (and paper) they have to make the biggest print. And of course final viewing distance plays a huge part.

[Drew Wiley]

I don't have that problem because I don't know how to take a picture with a phone yet. Every time I hold it up to my ear, I don't see a thing.

[Jim Andrada]

If the stars are aligned just right and you hold your breath and don't get your finger in front of the lens or get a call you can get some really good shots with a phone camera. I was walking (well, more like hobbling because my Sciatica decided to wait until I got the Japan to flare up) along a street in a rural town in Japan - really rural, facing the sea of Japan. It was too damned hard to walk let along carry my camera and I saw something I really wanted a photo of so I used what I had, my Samsung Note 4.

Not sure if I'll get shot for putting it here or not - but here goes