Contact Printing Large Format negatives with a Leica Focomat V35?

[Jim Jones]

The further from the contact printing frame the lamp is, the more even the illumination is. Mounting it close to the ceiling keeps it out of the way and provides more even lighting. Check for uneven light emission from any lamp.

[v.kapoor]

I know what Contact Printing is. Refer to my original post:

"I have limited space for a darkroom and am planning to do mainly contact printing like Weston for my 4x5 and 8x10 prints.

However, I also shoot 35mm and found an amazing deal on a Leica Fotomat V35. Can I kill two birds with one stone, and use this enlarger light for properly exposing contact prints. "

It seems that you don't know what contact-printing is? The light-source doesn't matter. Just use a desklamp with a low power bulb, and maybe a few layers of normal white paper as a way of getting conveniently longer exposures. Save the $200 for paper and chemicals.

[v.kapoor]

Thanks for the note, Jim.

The further from the contact printing frame the lamp is, the more even the illumination is. Mounting it close to the ceiling keeps it out of the way and provides more even lighting. Check for uneven light emission from any lamp.

[agregov]

Hey LF,

... Leica Fotomat V35. Can I kill two birds with one stone, and use this enlarger light for properly exposing contact prints. The enlarger has only one bulb, so I'm afraid that it might cause vignetting or not evenly expose a negative that is wider than 35mm.

Thanks!

Short answer, yes you can use an enlarger for contact printing. And no, you should not have problems with vignetting. Simply make sure your enlarger light fall over your entire contact printing frame.

Longer answer.... I'm unclear about your experience with contact printing so forgive anything obvious the follows. There's some mention in the thread about using a light bulb. That's the traditional way for exposing contact prints and works great. However, it also often assumes one is using one of the slow silver chloride papers. Light bulbs throw too much light for most variable contrast papers. There's only two silver chloride papers left, Lodima and Adox Lupex. Lodima has been largely out of stock for some time. And Lupex only comes in a single grade 3 paper. For doing traditional contact prints with a light bulb, you need both a properly exposed negative paired with the right grade of paper. For instances when you need more or less contrast in your final image that is not contained in the negative, the lack of additional grades of paper (grades 2, 3 and 4), makes it more difficult to make very high quality work contact printing traditionally. You also have less access to paper developers as many traditional b&w developers make poor prints on silver chloride papers (often a blue hue). So, you would need to use Amidol or Formulary 130.

The advantage to making contact prints with an enlarger is you can choose from many excellent variable contrast papers available from a variety of manufacturers and many paper developers. In this case, if you need to add more or less contrast in your image, you simply dial the magenta (more contrast) or yellow (less contrast) filters on the enlarger head in the case of the Leica, and you're off to the races. You have unlimited contrast options. In addition to far more control over contrast of the image, you can also print your 35mm negatives with this enlarger.

So, the longer answer is if you have the room, the Leica would be a great way to make contact prints. Extra bonus is you can make enlargements from your 35mm negatives. With respect to the lens being taken apart, I'd probably assume that won't work and buy a new lens. The Leica enlarger uses a 39mm screw mount so you should be able to find another lens fairly easily (50mm might be best). Make sure the enlarger comes with a film holder or two. Those will be difficult to find used. Good luck.

[v.kapoor]

This is so helpful! Thank you for taking the time to make this clear. I appreciate it.

Short answer, yes you can use an enlarger for contact printing. And no, you should not have problems with vignetting. Simply make sure your enlarger light fall over your entire contact printing frame.

Longer answer.... I'm unclear about your experience with contact printing so forgive anything obvious the follows. There's some mention in the thread about using a light bulb. That's the traditional way for exposing contact prints and works great. However, it also often assumes one is using one of the slow silver chloride papers. Light bulbs throw too much light for most variable contrast papers. There's only two silver chloride papers left, Lodima and Adox Lupex. Lodima has been largely out of stock for some time. And Lupex only comes in a single grade 3 paper. For doing traditional contact prints with a light bulb, you need both a properly exposed negative paired with the right grade of paper. For instances when you need more or less contrast in your final image that is not contained in the negative, the lack of additional grades of paper (grades 2, 3 and 4), makes it more difficult to make very high quality work contact printing traditionally. You also have less access to paper developers as many traditional b&w developers make poor prints on silver chloride papers (often a blue hue). So, you would need to use Amidol or Formulary 130.

The advantage to making contact prints with an enlarger is you can choose from many excellent variable contrast papers available from a variety of manufacturers and many paper developers. In this case, if you need to add more or less contrast in your image, you simply dial the magenta (more contrast) or yellow (less contrast) filters on the enlarger head in the case of the Leica, and you're off to the races. You have unlimited contrast options. In addition to far more control over contrast of the image, you can also print your 35mm negatives with this enlarger.

So, the longer answer is if you have the room, the Leica would be a great way to make contact prints. Extra bonus is you can make enlargements from your 35mm negatives. With respect to the lens being taken apart, I'd probably assume that won't work and buy a new lens. The Leica enlarger uses a 39mm screw mount so you should be able to find another lens fairly easily (50mm might be best). Make sure the enlarger comes with a film holder or two. Those will be difficult to find used. Good luck.