reducing negative size

Is there a way to reduce some large 8x10 negs to 4x5 so that I can print them on my enlarger. I will

be printing them to at least 20x24 size. I'm thinking I may need to contact print them and copy

photograph them with a 35mm camera. Grain isn't an issue since I'm going for a certain feel or

mood. Is there a way to have them scanned and a 4x5 negative made?

How about re-photographing them with a 4x5 camera?

use your 8x10 camera as an enlarger maybe?

I would suggest contact prints and then copy with the 4X5 with fine grain film.

I don't have an 8x10 camera just a med. format Hassi with 80mm lens, a Nikon 35mm

with a 55mm macro lens, and a 4x5 view camera with a 210 lens. Do you think I could

copy a contact print well enough with any of those lens? The size of the negs I need to

copy are actually as large as 11 x14.

Are the original negs B&W or color? If B&W, you could shoot them against a good, uniform light box with color slide film in the 4x5. You might get some subtle contrast effects from residual color in the "B&W" 4x5 neg, but it could be worth a try.

They're black and white. The light box sounds like a good idea. Which of my cameras

do you think I should use?

If you can print from 4x5 negs, go ahead and use the 4x5 to make the copies. That way you will have large copies for later use. You could copy them to smaller formats without losing too much quality and without having to go back to the 8x10 or 11x14 originals.

Thank you everyone. I've used my lightbox and shot the first test sheets with my 4x5

and will process them tonight and see what I get.

Special films used to be made for this purpose. The reason is that the contrast range of films is reduced compared to the original scene (film is developed to gamma less than 1) and the characteristic curve of the film alters the tonal reproduction. Applying a second stage of this process with regular film may not give the best results. In this era, when the special copy films aren't available, as far as I know, I'd try a film with a relatively straight line response, like TMax and adjust development to get a copy negative of suitable contrast.

There are some alternatives. I have always been disappointed with second

generation negatives. If you go this route you are of course also going to end up with

a positive image unless you use a reversal process. How are going to deal with

that? Also, if you use the light box approach, in addition to making sure the source

is uniform, I would use a long focal-length taking lens to minimize light fall off on the

corners. You'll have to let us know how this turns out.

 

An alternative is to scan them and go with a digital print. If you are looking for the

wet darkroom look I understand the path you are taking. One option that I have

heard of but not used is to scan and print a negative on transparency film (mylar or

something like that) that can then be used for contact printing. I was always intrigued by this

because it seems to offer all the benefits of precision, control, and

repeatability of a digital process with the look and feel of a traditional print. If this

interests you, I bet you can find resources here on this site from people who have

done it.

 

Best of luck.

 

Bill

Scan 'em and get a digital print. Today's printers can generally rival darkroom prints... particularly darkroom prints from copy negs. Today lots of us routinely scan our negs and go from there in a digital darkroom.

 

Try duotone printing if you want a more classic look.

Have you tried any of these techniques? I want to reduce 4x5 negs to 120 without losing any detail. Appreciate any answers, Janet