pin hole daylight contact printer

[mysteryscribe]

I had been threatening to make a contact printer that was all daylight no electricity needed for some time now. It finally all came together.

The first things you need to know are:

a little about pinhole photography.
how to deal with paper exposure.
how to make some kind of back for the printer to hold standard film holders

So I had to rip the lens from one of my remanufactured cameras. I decided that it was a good time to finally make the printer. I made a pinhole lens with a 1/16 inch hole. To large for a camera but I thought it might work

after you get those things simi mastered your ready to go.

You just take your standard film holder and insert a piece of enlarging paper into the holder. Then you insert your negative over it. I used the next size up paper but I believe you could use the same size paper and negative. That is my next test.

So then you take the printer to a place with a consistant light source. I took mine along with a cup of coffee to the front porch. I pointed my light meter up and read the light. Since I have been shooting some paper negatives I knew that the ceiling of the porch is what I now call a dead light source. With a dead light source the asa/iso of the paper is 2. I had estimated just by looking that the aperture was f64. So I got a time of 2 minutes. I pulled the darkslide and left the camera sitting in a chair for the two minutes then replaced the dark slide.

I loaded the paper into a daylight tank and processed it for the max time I use for paper negs.

I was a little shocked to find that I had a print. There were two things wrong with it. The roof of the porch was clearly evident and the print was too light. I decided that the print was 2 stops under exposed so I redid the shot with a ten minute exposure. I added the extra 1/4 stop because I put a piece of frosted plastic over the pinhole opening. It was there to defuse the light and kill outside image.

so how did it look, here see for yourself.

 

[JamesD]

Outstanding, Charlie! Very nice. There's a lot of tonal depth in this one, and I like it--even though it's a little unsettling on a personal level (ie the name LOL).

It's a little fuzzy around the corners... is that as-printed, or is it in the post-processing?

I'm planning to use a reflection enlarger for my MF and LF negatives, once I finally get around to it. It's going to be interesting.

 

[mysteryscribe]

the paper and or the film wasn't flat. Something I need to revist but you know there is a certain interesting look to it since I still shoot the center out of pictures. I might not bother.

by the way this is a 3x4 version I am deep into making a 4x5 version at the moment. It should be ready to shoot tomorrow.

 

[mysteryscribe]

I just got the 4x5 version completed and tested. It works just fine. I should have been doing this all along.

So james or joe how much longer does it take to do a contract print from a paper negative than from a film negative.

 

[JamesD]

I'd say start by giving it an extra stop of exposure. Or, start at +2 or +3 stops and use the darkslide to make a test.