Old School Darkroom for Smartphones

[sallymack]

Anybody else see this? You can print pictures directly from your "smart phone" or from film through this

enlarger for that old-fashioned darkroom experience.<br>

<a href="https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/enfojer-old-school-darkroom-for-smartphones">link</a><br>

I'm still processing the concept. Thoughts? --Sally

[jose_angel]

<p>I have seen someone doing the very same thing with an ordinary enlanger.<br>

It seems almost easier and faster than downloading and printing via digital equipment. I have to try it one day, but I missed how to get a reversed image...</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Of all the photographic gimmicks I've seen, and there have been many, this is one of them.</p>

<p>Too bad the original Spiratone is gone. They'd have loved this.</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>I would pay $200 or whatever they're asking. And it's scary to think they've separated $38,000 from innocent people, but maybe I'm just jealous I didn't think of it first. :)<br /><br />But this does almost seem like a fun weekend project. The image on my iPhone 6 would easily fit into the opening on a 6x9 negative carrier, and with my Omega D2 I could open the head wide enough for the phone to simply lay on top of the carrier. I can reverse the image to negative. Control exposure on and off simply by holding a piece of cardboard over the enlarger lens or the paper. It's just a question of how long the epxosure time would be and how badly the pixels would show up once the image is enlarged.<br /><br />Or I could just click print on the phone. :)</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<blockquote>

<p>"Or I could just click print on the phone. :)"</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Yeah, mpix offers prints on b&w RC paper from my digital files. It satisfies my cravings for the clink of real silver in my paper.</p>

<p>If I had the space to set up an enlarger I'd just print my own negatives. My vertical column Durst enlargers don't take up any more room than that. And I keep hoping to clear out a closet for a darkroom printing space again. Just using film doesn't give me a thrill, but I do miss being able to pop into the darkroom to make a print whenever the muse strikes. Now it's a major production to set up.</p>

[jose_angel]

<p>Dumb question... how could I reverse an image on my iPhone 5? I need a negative image for printing.</p>

[peter_langfelder]

<p>Umm, so you get the 16 MP photo downsized to the resolution of the screen which is at best 2 MP, probably more like 1.5 MP because of aspect ratio differences, the enlarging lens presumably anti-aliases (i.e., blurs) even the few leftover pixels and you can print "exhibition-ready" prints up to 20x20 cm (8x8 inch)? Those prints must be very "artistic" (blurry). I can see the coolness of it but can't imagine many people using for more then a few prints, especially when the smell of the stop bath and the fixer starts stinking up their place.</p>

[User_5888660]

<p>After reading the OP, I thought it could be interesting. I went down to my darkroom and put my iPhone 6 in my enlarger on top of the 4x5 negative carrier. The phone casts quite a bright image on the paper below. I did not go ahead and print. Perhaps next time I am printing I may play around with it some. </p>

<p>It could be fun to play with. I think I have an app that allows me to invert an image on the phone to a negative. </p>

[Jochen_S]

<p>Good point Peter! - At least the pixel math part. - I honestly don't know if I ever minded stop bath & fixer smells.<br>

So how to get more pixels on paper? - Cobble 4 or 5K screens on process cameras? Did anybody bother to write software to use them for splitgrade exposures? What kind of device is used to do regular (comercial) silverprinting from files?<br>

I don't own a smart phone so I see little value in the ENFOJER project for myself. But now I am wondering if cobbling some insane pixel density tablet on my Chromega might make sense? - It could be at least less expensive than going dye sub for small prints.</p>

 

[User_5888660]

<p>How about an iPad on an 8x10 enlarger? I may have to try it over the weekend.</p>

<p> </p>

[Damon DAmato]

<p>Not to mention contact prints off a laptop/desktop screen.</p>

[ken_jeanette1]

<p>This hits the nostalgia crowd right between the eyes. I almost flash back to the smell of developer and fixers, and the red light days. It may not be a practical tool, but would be fun to give a try again.</p>

[StuartMoxham]

<p>It's greats, I thought once about using my tablet for contact prints on B&W paper. I never got round to it though, maybe tomorrow or the next day or the next day or..........</p>

[DB_Gallery]

<p>I think it is great! They are sending me one soon for youth outreach and to use at a super high end TED like event I shoot annually. Love the egg safelight too!</p>