Should I attempt enlargments for color & black/white

[paul_manuel]

I'm trying to decide if I should attemp to enlarge my own negatives.

I'm using a Mamiya 7. Is it very difficult to enlarge and process?

Also, which enlarger would you recommend.

[jeff_drew3]

You'll need a darkroom, a 6x7cm or bigger enlarger, negative carrier for 6x7cm, enlarging lens that covers the 6x7cm format and a wealth of other utensils for handling prints, like trays, tongs, safelights etc. Time for you to invest in some darkroom primer books! B&W is easier to start with and can take a long time to master, but the voila factor is quick and satisfying. Color, on the other hand, is do-able and in the short run, very expensive if you screw-up. Start with B&W to see if you like it. I've done both for a long time, and I dumped nearly all my color stuff in favor of B&W, and I think it will take me another "long time" to be as good as some of the icons of yester-year. Many in this forum do much "darkroom" work with a good scanner, PC, Photoshop etc. and that option is quickly becoming a standard. Either way, plan your budget!

[andreas_carl]

In fact, it is very easy and it will do wonders to your photography - at least it did for me! You will probably in your very first attempts outclass anything the local quicky labs are capable of. To become a printer like the "old masters": as Paul says, it may take a lifetime!

[lightcraftsman]

Color? I wouldn't bother. For the prices of a color darkroom you can buy a killer computer and do your print preparation digitally, saving a lot of money on print costs.

 

Black-and-white? Definitely. You will never get good at black-and-white unless you process and print your own film. Is this difficult? No. In fact, you'll get a greater sense of satisfaction out of printing your own black-and-white. It feels to good to hang an 11x14 print in your cube and have a coworker ask if it is an Ansel Adams print.

 

Enlargers are whole different consideration. As with cameras, it is a personal choice based on a variety of factors too detailed to go into in one thread on a discussion board. The quick answer is any Beseler/Omega/Saunders will do an excellent job. I'd recommend looking around for a good used 4x5 enlarger, then buying the best lens you can afford. It makes no sense to go out and shoot with a Mamiya 7 only to come home and print through a cheap lens. One of the Nikkor/Rodenstock/Schneider variety will do.

[tom_raymondson]

I'll offer a slightly contrary answer (something more for you to think about). I'm assuming that if you can afford a Mamiya 7 then you can afford a decent enlarger and you are serious about photography. The conventional wisdom is to go with black-and-white. But this probably means struggling with film developing (there are so many things that can go wrong) and teaching yourself to see images in shades of gray. Why not get a color enlarger capable of doing at least your 6x7 negs (I use an LPL/Saunders 4x5 enlarger and love it)? Shoot color negs and have them developed with machine prints anywhere that does medium format. You now have proofs to work from for your enlargements (it is virtually impossible to look at color negs and really know what you have). Get 3 developing trays, a box of RA-4 paper (I use Kodak Supra) and room temp RA-4 chems (Beseler makes a 1 liter size that will do about 30 8x10s). If you want pick up a stop bath for black-and-white, but you could probably get by with just water in the middle tray. You won't need a safelight because the exposure and the first part of development is done in total darkness (you can turn on the lights after it's been in the stop, or if there is no stop when it's in the bleach/fix). To fine tune your prints get the Kodak Color Print Viewing Filter Kit. One other thing - make sure you have a good size waste basket and realize that you aren't going to save any money doing this. After one session in your new darkroom you will have a print at least as good as you could get from your average lab, and once you fine tune your skills you will never let anyone else touch your negs again.

[glen_johnson]

Amen.

 

Color darkrooms don't have to be priced beyond reach. You can get started for not too much more than a b&w darkroom would cost. I had a friend in Dayton who did Ilfochrome prints for the camera club competition each month, and he had a very modest enlarger, and one drum.

 

I agree with the idea that, once you see what you can do yourself, you will not be satisfied with the work of most of the labs out there.

 

FWIW, I would also recommend a Saunders LPL as a good compromise between price and performance. The Leica autofocus enlargers are also superb. For 6x7, I would opt for the LPL MX 670 dichro. The APO-Rodenstock 80mm f/4 lens will cover the 6x7 format, and it will go to about 9.5x on an easel at the baseboard. If you turn the enlarger around, the lens is good to about 15x.

 

If you get into it seriously, you might enjoy a Jobo CPP-2, tempering box, color analyzer/densitometer, etc. But you don't have to have these toys at the outset, and, aside from the analyzer, these toys are also fun to have if you are into b&w.

 

I did b&w for many years (starting around 1969), but I switched over to exclusively color a few years ago, and I have enjoyed color as an old guy every bit as much as I enjoyed color back when the whole idea of darkroom work was new to me.