Need prints from 8x10 B&W film

Moderator Note - moved from "Film and Processing" to "Large Format" -

 

 

My father was a professional from the 1940s through the 1980s, in addition to during his service in WW2. I have a couple dozen 8x10 negatives from 1944-45 in the South Pacific with four images to each one. I want to get an 8X10 glossy of each of the four images on each negative, more or less 100 prints. Exposures, not scans! Who can put me in touch with someone in the Atlanta area, or the SE United States in general, who has the equipment and interest to do that for me? Many thanks for your help!

Edited November 29, 2020 by William Michael

You say no scans, but the easiest way is to scan them and print the scans.

 

Also cheapest even though the prints are on color paper.

(You didn't say color or black and white negatives.)

 

I don't know of 4x5 enlargers that will hold one quarter of an 8x10 negative, so it might require

slicing them up to 4x5 negatives.

 

Many flatbed scanners with a back light (for transparencies like film) will scan them.

Not all have a back light that covers the full width, so again slicing might be required.

But I suspect scanners with full width back light are easier to find than enlargers that

will hold them.

 

As well as I know, the largest fraction of labs now scan and print negatives sent to them.

Just wondering, what price range are you expecting?

Making 20"x16" prints using a 10x8 enlarger and cutting the prints into 4 would be the way to go IMO.

That's assuming the 4 exposures on each sheet of film are equal and will print well together.

 

Just finding someone with a 10x8 enlarger these days is going to be a task.

 

The LF forum might be more fruitful.

Forgive my ignorance, but what camera/process would give four shots on a single 8x10 piece of film?

Making 20"x16" prints using a 10x8 enlarger and cutting the prints into 4 would be the way to go IMO.

That's assuming the 4 exposures on each sheet of film are equal and will print well together.

 

Just finding someone with a 10x8 enlarger these days is going to be a task.

 

The LF forum might be more fruitful.

 

Sound like a reasonable idea, and should work for virtually all of them -- IF anyone has the equipment! I agree on how likely it is. I'm just exploring what's possible. Sadly, I didn't keep dad's enlargers. He may have had an 8x10 holder with one of them, but his studio work was all with the more obvious 4x5. He never worked in color, but Mom did oil tinting. I started splashing hypo in his darkroom when I was 5. My contribution to the family business. Thanks!

Forgive my ignorance, but what camera/process would give four shots on a single 8x10 piece of film?

 

I'd like the answer to that one myself. I can imagine a rotating lens that would expose on the selected piece of film, but don't know of that is reasonable OR if it would be available in the Army Air Force in 1944! On the other hand, who else for the advanced technology other than the military?

What I wonder is if these are original camera negs or if they were created from 4x5 negs for some purpose. You might be able to tell by how clean they are. No matter the care, if contact printing was involved I'd expect some dust spots in the image, not related to the processing of the film.

 

Over the years I've seen a couple nice used 8x10 enlargers sold here, one by a local camera shop and one at a surplus dealer. Very rare birds a decade or two ago and probably on the edge of extinction today. It takes a big darkroom to work at that size.

Contact prints on film or paper?

Contact prints on film or paper?

Need exposures on glossy paper. Desired publication quality.

Contact prints can be made on glossy paper, and are as good as it gets.

 

(Unless you need larger prints. Which you do. Then you need to find a lab that can do 16x10s from 8x10. I'm sorry, but i can't help there.)

Moderator Note - moved from "Film and Processing" to "Large Format" -

 

 

My father was a professional from the 1940s through the 1980s, in addition to during his service in WW2. I have a couple dozen 8x10 negatives from 1944-45 in the South Pacific with four images to each one. I want to get an 8X10 glossy of each of the four images on each negative, more or less 100 prints. Exposures, not scans! Who can put me in touch with someone in the Atlanta area, or the SE United States in general, who has the equipment and interest to do that for me? Many thanks for your help!

 

 

Not sure if this is something they can handle but you might check out Boutique Film Lab up in Tennessee. Other than that, Blue Moon Camera & Machine in Portland OR has varying capabilities and may be able to help.

"Forgive my ignorance, but what camera/process would give four shots on a single 8x10 piece of film?"

 

Using a pre-cut dark slide(s) to mask off portions of the image during exposure is easy to do. I've done it to create two 4x10 panoramic images on one 8x10 sheet of film.

Another possibilty is that it was some sort of rotating and sliding back for a 5"x4" camera. Enabling 4 shots to be taken in reasonably quick succession on 10x8 film/plate.

 

I vaguely remember seeing such a contraption, many years ago. The back was slid across for two shots, then rotated 180 degrees and slid across for two more. I've no idea how the light-trapping worked.

 

Also, is there any possibility that this could be a single copy negative from 4 prints put together on a copyboard?

 

Perhaps more clues could be got from how the 4 images are orientated to each other?

Or, 4 lenses mounted on one board and baffled back to the image area.