How to go from digital to negatives.

[Grandpa Ron]

I have scanned a number of black and white negatives into my computer, inverted them and made some rather nice looking prints on the monitor but the ink jet printer output leaves a lot to be desired.

Now I want to go the other way. I want to take some of my favorite digital photos and make negatives, that I can used in my enlarger.

My thought was to invert the digital image then print it on a transparency as a 2 1/4 by 2 1 /4 negative. However, before I reinvent the wheel I wondered if anyone was been successful in doing this.

 

[dxqcanada]

Products - De Vere Enlargers

not really an economic way to go ...

 

[Ysarex]

We used to do that back in the day: AGFA PCR 11 Plus Film recorder w/ Camera The hardware was specialized and pretty $$$. Strictly used market now and odds are real slim you could get one to work with a modern computer. I used one for a couple years about 20 years ago and back then it cost $10,000.00. I think Polaroid made a cheap one called the Palaroid Palette if memory serves. Once digital printing matured and in color at least surpassed darkroom printing we lost interest in the film recorders and they all disappeared.

For B&W another option is to use a high quality laser printer to make contact print size negative transparencies. It kinda works as long as you don't mind losing the top end highlight detail.

Joe

 

[dennybeall]

Many folks digitize by projecting the negative and taking a digital photo, why not just do the opposite - project the digital photos and take a photo with a film camera.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Look up digital negatives and Dan Burkholder, he's done workshops/classes (but I'm not sure if he still does) but there are resources on his site. Or try looking up Mike Ware in the UK.

Try Freestyle's website Home | Freestyle Photographic Supplies and search there, or look under articles for digital negatives on AlternativePhotography.com .

 

[webestang64]

Once I get my film recorder working I'll be offering that service to 120 color print or black-n-white film. Hopefully have that up and running by March.

 

[Dave442]

I have also thought about this more than a few times. If I had a darkroom set up then I would start with the process that that Dan Burkholder laid out:

Inkjet Negative Companion Download (no DVD sent)

This is probably best for making a large negative that would be then used to make a contact print. I think Dan lays out how to make the digital negative so that it will have all the tones and contrasts to give a good print (probably something similar to applying all the steps in reverse of what you did to turn that scanned negative into the image that you printed).

If you want a small negative to enlarge then probably need to use the services of webestang64 and that expensive film recorder.

 

[Strodav]

If you've got a high resolution photo printer with at least gray and black ink, try printing on transparency material. Try at least 600ppi and the highest quality setting on the printer.