How large do you print your leica shots?

[christian hilmersen www.]

I have not printed any of my shots any larger than 30x45cm (apprx

11.5x17.5 in) - Ilford delta 100/400 scanned with a nikon 4000dpi

scanner and printed on archival matt epson paper with an Epson 2100.

(Largest I have done in the dark room is 30x40)

 

How large prints do you make?

[terry_rory]

Largest prints from my Leica CM (so far) = 15x10 and 12x8

 

<center><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/2648489-sm.jpg"></center>

 

and this one...

 

<center><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/2572762-sm.jpg"></center>

 

Both printed on good local lab's Frontier (which has max size of 15x10)

[jonathan_reynolds]

I print my best ones at 16" x 12" to hang on the wall. This size really separates the sheep from the goats, and makes me happy with the equipment I have. I use Tri-X almost exclusively, soupled in Tetenal Emofin.

 

I have also done 20" x 16"s, but it's a bit more of a hassle in my darkroom, and too big for viewing conditions in our small home. The best negs still look fine at that size, however.

[john_amiet2]

My standard 'user' size is 9.5" x12". Better images got to 12"x16" and 16"x20", either colour or B/W. I do all my own printing (why give the pleasure to anyone else?) and recently I have started framing myself, after training to do it professionally. I find I spend more money doing it myself because it is so easy (to spend).

 

I am confident that Leica negs can go a lot further, but so does the cost, even when doing it yourself. In many, but not all cases, my Leica negs equal or better my 'Blad negs, but that is another arguement. :-))

[MTC Photography]

20" x 30"

[al_kaplan1]

The biggest tray size I have is 16x20 but I've made prints on 20x24 paper a few times by holding the paper in my hands and pulling it back and forth through the developer on the diagonal, and bending it over on itself (fiber based paper!)to fit in the fix and wash.

 

"Sharpness" largely depends on viewing distance. A print that might look a bit fuzzy and/or grainy on your lap can look just fine framed and hanging ten feet away on the wall. I've got a 4x8 foot horizontal political sign here that has a four foot high head shot of one of North Miami's city councilmen on it. That was cropped a bit from the original. It was shot on color negative for a flier, but he liked the photo! It appears in B&W on the sign. It doesn't look tack sharp from a fewfeet away, but then the half-tone dots the printer used aren't really small either, and it looked fine to people driving down the street. He won the election! ~Leica M with 90mm f/2.8 "long" Elmarit.

 

I rarely print on larger than 11x14 paper these days, mostly about 8x12 with wide borders.

[joseph_barbano]

20" X 30". The real expense is in the mounting/framing.

[nee_sung]

I think it was 4ft by 6ft. I can't remember the exact size. I just made sure it occupied the maximum size to go into a single panel for my exhibition.

 

It was taken on Ektachrome about 18 years ago, but the exhibition only took place last year, so it was done digitally, I think. I had a professional lab did the enlarging. And I told them to enlarge all shots by traditional method unless it was impossible, in which case they should use digital. I got all the shots mixed up in my mind so now I can't remember which one was done digitally and which ones traditionally.

[skeeter]

11 x 14 is my favorite, but that is probably because i have yet to try 16 x 20. a "dry" attempt at that size put the enlarger head of my besseler 23-III just about at the top of the track.

[robert_clark]

I have 16x20's on the wall from Leica and Pentax lenses - both are excellent.

[sam_portera]

My standard print size is 8x10 but will occasionally print 11x14 from 35mm.

[andy m.]

10x8" seems to be my normal larger size.

[douglas k.]

I may be reading into your question, but are you suggesting that Leica lenses can produce better extreme enlargements than other companies' lenses? Because I really doubt that. Any recent and decent lens is capable of high-quality results.

 

With that said, I've printed (in a wet darkroom, not digitally) up to about 36" x 54" from 35mm negs (Nikon SLR gear). Technical quality was superb, which has little connection to the particular lens (see above) and much to do with shooting and printing technique.

[dan flanders]

Mostly 4x6, rarely 8x10. Since my stuff ain't art I don't try to make it arty.

[huw_finney]

I used to go 16x20 from 35mm but sicnce getting the Linhof 5x4 10x8 is my max from Leica. It's a comparison thing a 16x20 from 5x4 is sharper than a 5x7 from 35mm, half of that must be the use of a tripod as the magnification is the same.

[nee_sung]

Actually the largest print of my exhibition was from a 1980 Canon auto-focus (first generation) P&S. Also Ektachrome. But it was made from an inter-negative made about 15 years earlier. The size of the print was 5ft by 6 ft (because I cropped the original slide).

[furcafe]

I usually print digitally on an Epson 1280, so that means those strange inkjet paper sizes like 8.5x11" for work prints & up to 13x19" for big prints.

[steve g]

Lots of 8x10's, one of these days I'll get some of that 11x14 paper or such. Lately been printing a lot of 'full-frame' on 8x10 though, so I lose a bit.

[james_megargee]

30" x 40"

[rj]

As large as I can so the image will look good, (as long as the paper can still fit in my nova processor). I have printed to 11x14, or thereabouts, and it still looks good enough to frame.

[jorge]

I've lost the taste for humongous prints. Nowadays my largest prints are same as Al's, 8x12 or 9x12 on 11x14 paper. Sometimes, in the rare occasions I shoot landscapes with the 4x5, I'll go to 16x20 or even 20x24 but then I never know what to do with the prints.

 

Actually, in recent months I've been working on portfolios inspired on the ones that Lenswork is selling. I've learned how to cut the envelopes and even succeded in the production of the digital negatives for contact printing.

 

These folios have been well received by friends who can put them on a bookshelf to look at them occasionally and don't feel pressed to give me a piece of their walls.