Hi, I was wondering if I could make a simple (4x6) B&W print with out the use of an enlarger... I know I can make a contact sheet with just some glass and a low wattage bulb, but can I make a print in a similar fashion (with out spending money on an enlarger...) Thanks Phillip

-- Phillip Silitschanu (speedin_saab@hotmail.com), December 26, 2001

Answers

Your contact sheet *is* a print! Unfortunately, you're limited to the size of the negative without some type of enlarger. As a teenager, I didn't have an enlarger and made my first prints with a junked filmstrip projector. The idea sounds awful, but the prints were actually pretty good. Remember, early enlargers were often horizontal. Sharpness will be terrible, but you could scan the contact sheet into the computer and probably make a passable 4x6 print. The real answer is to find a cheap used enlarger. A "garage sale special" might be $20 if you get lucky. If you can afford a Saab, a cheap enlarger ought to be possible :-)

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), December 26, 2001.

Shoot with a 5x7 camera & contact print. Or use a 4x5 or 8x10 or larger. Alt processes such as Platinum, carbon and others are done this way. So are many exhibition silver prints. Kodak Azo is one contact printing paper still made, though not in the grades & surfaces of years past. It is a beautiful paper perfectly suited to exhibition work and works well for many who live with contact printing as the final image.

-- Dan Smith (shooter@brigham.net), December 27, 2001.

make an 8 x 10 pinhole camera...You will have a large negative on film,ortho or paper; then you can contact print with a 15w. light between two 1/4 pieces of glass...Voila! portable darkroom

-- michel bayard (michelbayard@webtv.net), January 01, 2002.

My first enlargement was made with a Kodak Carousel slide projector. I mounted my negative as a slide, and after a few unsuccessful tries, ended up with a small hole in the lens cap and a piece of cardboard held in front of the lens to allow an exposure time of about 1/2 second. Seems like I used chewing gum to hold the 8x10 paper on the wall. The print came out surprizingly good, although a little contrasty. This is only cheap if you already own or can borrow a slide projector, as they sell used for more than a decent enlarger.

-- David (david@tonon.org), January 04, 2002.