I've been disappointed with my forays into telecine so far, and making digital screencaps from my Super 8 footage has been less than inspiring.
I was wondering if it was possible to make photographic prints from Super 8 film the old fashioned way, using one of those old-school colour enlarger/printer thingies?
If so:
What sort of equipment do I need access to?
Can you make prints of K40 film using E6 chemistry on the paper?
Do I understand that you want optical prints of individual frames? If yes, then you can certainly do that using an optical enlarger to expose onto regular photo paper, and then process the paper in the appropriate color chemistry.
For negative films, you'd expose onto Fuji Crystal Archive paper or Kodak Royal or Supra or Portra or Ultra in your choice of finish (gloss, matt, semi-matt), then process in RA-4 chemistry.
For transparency films, you'd expose onto cibachrome (now called Ilfochrome) and process in P-30 chemistry.
All of this has to be done in a darkroom using an enlarger with a color head, or one with a filter drawer that you can put filter packs in. It takes a lot of practice to get it right. Negative is easier than transparency film, but you still end up having to make several prints to get the color and density right either way. With transparency film, you almost always need a contrast mask.
The papers cannot be handled under a safelight like b&w printing papers. They require total pitch black, so you have to carefully set up your easel under your enlarger and be able to do everything in total darkness. It really helps to have a rotary processor of some sort, like a Beseler Unicolor print drum on a motor base (low end) or a Jobo processor (CPA-2, CPP-2, medium investment), or a Durst or Fuji or similar roller transport paper processor (high end, expensive).
I haven't tried Cibachrome (or the now discontinued Kodak R3000 processing). I've done a fair amount of printing from color negatives using RA-4 processing. It's a lot of fun if you like wet work. When I have properly exposed negs that don't need a lot of correction, I can manage three or four good final prints in an four hour evening of printing. As you can see, this is not a high volume proposition.
I use a Beseler 45 with the Universal 45 Dichroic Color Head, an antiquated Beseler PM-2A color analyzer (go for the Jobo colorline 7000 if you can afford to spend $1000 USD new, $700 excellent used). I process paper in a Jobo CPP-2. Expensive even when purchased used. A used Beseler Unicolor print drum on a Beseler motor base from Ebay would work just fine.
You will need a 15mm or shorter lens to avoid excessively high elevations over the baseboard when enlarging to an 8x10 size print. Those can be hard to find, but they do come up on ebay from time to time. A 25mm lens might be easier to find and would be acceptable.
Uhhh. This is what you had in mind, isn't it?
BTW, it might be a lot simpler to scan single frames on a film scanner.
I think that Cibachrome sounds better to me than Ilfochrome. But thats beside the point.
Where in Texas can I find an Ilfochrome kit? I have special order sources right here in my own town; but, if I can drive to Dallas/Metroplex area to find an Ilfochrome kit I would love to.
Thanks,
Jordan
I'm back, I'm back- thebrowniecameraguy is back! I still have my Brownie 8mm Turret f/1.9! Time to play!
Maybe the main Wolf's Camera store on Harry Hines in Dallas (was originally Barry's Camera many long years ago). They have a fair amount of darkroom supplies.
Competitive Camera on Irving Blvd in Dallas used to stock a lot of darkroom chemicals, but they've mostly gone digital these days.
Arlington Camera in Arlington is a possibility.
I'd suggest giving Warehouse Photographic a call first. They'll probably order it for you if they don't have it. I might want to try some too, for that matter. I'll give them a call tomorrow if I don't get too busy.
Well, I have the option of ordering from a local shop. But he criticizes me anytime I say the word movie film.
He got quite hacked off at me about a year ago when I asked him to order me a new E6 kit for some 7240 regular 8, he said I shouldnt be messing with a format that died years ago! AS IF!
But, I will check him first, if he can order it, chances are I can go to Dallas and find it stocked somewhere.
Jordan
I'm back, I'm back- thebrowniecameraguy is back! I still have my Brownie 8mm Turret f/1.9! Time to play!
Jordan, today I called all the camera stores I previously mentioned, and none of them had an Ilfochrome P-30 kit in stock. Adorama is back-ordered. Calumet Photo is out of stock. B&H has it but won't ship it. You'd have to go to their store in New York. Freestyle Photo in LA has the Arista 2 liter kit that is similar to the Ilfochrome P-30. They'll ship UPS ground.
It ain't looking good for P-30. Let me know if you find a place that can get it.
I wonder how rusty my interneg-making skills are. An interneg on Portra 160 would make it easy to produce RA-4 prints, and RA-4 chemistry is much more easily obtained that R-print chemistry.
I got one of those enlargers where you put the photographic paper under the light to expose the image to the 8mm Super 8 or 16mm film. I've never tried it, but it came with the instructions. I'm sure you could use it if you had a dark room.
The Ilfochrome stuff is pretty hard to come by nowadays. If you are up for it, ask your local camera store to order it for you-my experience has been that they will only charge you cost for the item. I have had to do this when ordering various photo chemicals/kits that cannot be normally delivered to my home.
While we are on the subject of the Rondo copiers, I would like to mention the cinelarger cameras. These were produced from the 40's to the 70's, and were made in 35mm, 16mm, 8mm, and super 8 models. They had non-interchangeable gates, so you had to buy one for each format. They were basically a bakelite shell that you loaded with 620 film (but you can reroll 120 film into them) and shoot ten or so exposures of your film with them. They come up on ebay from time to time, and are quite cheap. There is a loss in image quality, though, but it is a nice way to keep negatives on file of stills from your films.
I actually tried to put a super8 film on my enlarger but because the light didn't concentrate enough on such a small area, I could not even see the picture on it.
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"Composing is improvising slower" Bill EVANS
Yeah, same here for trying to use a standard 50mm enlarging lens to blow up a frame of super 8-it was nearly impossible to see for critical focusing, and I think the final exposure was somewhere around the 8 minute mark- to make a lousy 4x6. 16mm is fairly doable, though.
Basstruc wrote:I actually tried to put a super8 film on my enlarger but because the light didn't concentrate enough on such a small area, I could not even see the picture on it.
You can use an Illumitran, which was designed for copying slides. Check ebay for one.
