massive reduction with enlarger

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Load a chip of paper into a camera, expose, unload, process, repeat, ad infinitum. Still seems a lot more work, and how do you maintain alignment? Seems like a lot of work.

not seems like, it IS a lot more work but still a lot of fun :smile:
35mm isn't small enough for what the OP wants to do ..
john
 

John51

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With paper in the camera, the final print can be as small as you like by increasing the distance between camera and neg. Snip snip.

If the tiny print needs to have a border, the neg can be masked with card.
 

MattKing

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This thread makes me think of "Fantastic Voyage".
It also makes me want to try to use my enlarger to make a reduction :smile:.
 
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rbrigham

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glad it’s inspired you matt
you might want to look up victorian miniature prints
some of these were 1mm diameter wet plates !

best

robin
 

darkroommike

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Old tech spycraft, too. The microdot was made by rephotographing full pages through a reversed microscope. One of the ways the FBI caught German spies was by tracing the purchase of microscopes by ordinary citizens during WW2.
 

darkroommike

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Am slooowly starting to discern a message. Poor me, can't claim that I...

Let the OP decide for himself.
Quoting me out of context? Go ahead, just remember the whole post is in this thread.

Don't know when this became personal for you. But apparently it is.

I never said your method would not work, I only said that it seems to be a lot more work and requires both an enlarger and a camera to pull off. As a rule I don't like having my camera in the darkroom.

My proposed method requires only one setup, on a standard enlarger. And makes use of the laws of physics. It also does not require that the enlarger and camera be aligned along the projection lens's optical axis, trivial, but just one more thing to have to putter into shape using your method.

I have used my method on several occasions, in a production environment. Translation: I got paid, by the job, to do this stuff, I couldn't take a day and a half to make one print.
 

Digger Odell

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For grain focusing, use a reversed 50mm enlarging lens, hand held and check focus. (or other focal length, the only thing that will change is the magnification). This also works to get to the corners of a regular size print.

I think this might be the "hocus focus?' technique.
 
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