I've been thinking of how to enlarge 5x7 and 8x10 without buying an 8x10
enlarger.
It would seem a plywood box with a light source at one end and lens at the
other would be all that's needed. I spent some time with googles usenet
archives and saw people mention everything from 1100watt monster light
sources to 150watt work lights. Anybody know if a halogen work light would
actually work? The price is right. They generate alot of heat but I'm
guessing almost anything bright enough does. Some sort of diffuser between
the light and the negative holder would seem the easy way. Avoiding
condensors. A couple of fans to handle the heat? One pulling in room air the
Hi,
I have made several light sources, and enlargers in past years, one option is
to use your camera as an enlarger and get two functions out of it, you will need to make a stand, vertical or horizontal your choice, then make a cold
light source from a grid of florescent lights, or in the case of my 11x14 enlarger I went to a (neon) Sign repair store that makes grids and had them make a green and blue tubes and they sort of crossed over each other I painted the metal box white that I made in my home machine shop (metal brake)
and placed the tubes some what deep in the box after experimenting with
placement and my Minolta lllf meter, the whole was covered with light diffusing glass and provided evenness of light from end to end, factor in
20 percent overlap to cover your negative. I also made a back to go on
my camera that took my negative and replaced the ground glass on the
camera I had, at first I tried no glass to support the neg. since anything
can degrade the image, this was not a real problem since the defused cold
light source did not generate heat like my then color head I had on my
omega 6x7 c. Later I went to glass negative carrier and had no buckle
problems, more due to weight not heat. I was going through a weird
phase In my life and photographic hobby career, I was fixated with
super resolution I wanted to have drop dead resolution, so my enlarger
project was for not enlarging (you really can't call it an enlarger) because
I was making smaller prints than the negative itself and it did have
very sharp, tight super resolution that was truly dazzling, overkill?
You bet ya! This applies to black and white paper, I never tried color and
don't think that I would want to, paper used in modern black and white
is sensitive to blue and green, there is really not a need for an 1100
watt source and the heat generated would need to be not only fan cooled
but forced vented into the outside, vibration should considered also.
Now, I am making cameras, wood field cameras, and find myself less in the
darkroom and more in my metal/wood machine shop. Chris of Bradenton FLA.
