Post 20 x 24 Contact Prints

[Daniel Stone]

wowee!!!!

and I thought that 8x10 was big enough.

JMB(OP), are you completely against scanning and outputting digital negatives? The cost of film holders, the camera, and a lens to cover 20x24 will get you a GREAT 8x10 camera, a great flatbed scanner(maybe even a drum scanner w/ the trimmings), multiple lenses, and a boxload of film holders, plus film.

just sayin....

sandy king(he's on here) makes large digital negs, and IIRC, he uses a 6x7cm camera for a lot of his work, using fine-grained film such as Acros and Tmax100

might try asking him.

but I'm not stopping you going with a straight analog process

-Dan

[William McEwen]

Joe, I realize you're after contact prints, but if you want 20x24s, how about using an enlarger to make direct enlargements from 8x10 negs?

[jmooney]

And I spent today bidding on a 6x9 camera because 4x5 is too big and too much gear for me. I feel like a big P&^#%.

[ic-racer]

Joe, I realize you're after contact prints, but if you want 20x24s, how about using an enlarger to make direct enlargements from 8x10 negs?

Unless one is doing a UV process, this is the way to go. Sure the enlarger is bigger than a 20x24 camera, but you don't have to move it to the scene!

It is only a 2.4x enlargement. The only people that will know or care that it is not a contact print will be the 5 people in the world that regularly use 20x24 cameras

[mdm]

I saw some very good 20x24 contacts a few months ago for the first time. To be honest, they looked like very good photographs but nothing more. There are many ways of making good photographs that do not involve a 20x24 camera.

The exception would be, if you were making one of a kind tintypes, polaroids or something of that nature.

Take the money you would spend and give it to the Red Cross or Hospice.

[Michael Jones]

Here are two of Gary Adams' 20x24 contact prints from the late 1980s.

Mike

[Pawlowski6132]

HERE you go dude.

[dsphotog]

HERE you go dude.

That's not far from me! I could pick it up & hold it for a buyer! (you have to pay for the camera) BUY IT NOW!!

[JMB]

Hugo and Jim,

Thank you for the recommendations re: Trin. I am in China at the moment, but I am likely to be in Los Angeles in February. I would very much like to see Trin's work. Can we meet-up at some point?

Ed and Jim,

Thank you for the sobering thoughts. These are real considerations, especially the way that I burn print paper in my attempts to make even small photographs.

Nathan,

Right. The features and characteristics of the 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10 contact prints, which I have seen have definitely inspired me to attempt to reach similar results in larger sizes. And this, perhaps, should be adequate inspiration. I also suspect that you are quite right that execution [not digital rivally] becomes the critical issue because of the challenges of working with a large camera. Still, I wanted to make some kind of inquiry in light of the claims that I hear from time to time about digital negatives, given the difficulty of executing with the 20 x 24 camera. I especially wanted to inquire, because I think that some of the guys out there using the 20 x 24 [and others still shooting in smaller LFs] also have a lot of experience printing with enlarged digital negatives. Thanks so much for your input.

[JMB]

Sorry. I guess that should have been Ed and Michael. Thanks guys.