Printing Paper in place of Film in Large Format camera?

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Pirate

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Has anyone put in some printing paper in place of film to make a paper negative print?

I've read about this being done and tried it, just for fun. The paper was rated by the manufacturer at 100 ISO. I didn't get any picture so I'm assuming that it's not an exact match to Film ISO.

The paper I used was Ilford Multigrade Fiber Paper.

So, has anyone done this for fun? If so, what are the time adjustments to get a print?

Once again, this is just for some fun.
 
I've been wanting to do this for a while, but so far have not gotten around to it. From what I've read ASA 6 is a better starting point. One could always do a test strip by using the dark slide to get multiple exposures on a single sheet. This should help zero in on correct exposure fairly quickly. For reversal I was planning to scan the negative then use software to get a positive.

Forty years ago I watched photographers at the Acropolis in Athens shoot tourists using big cameras that made a paper negative. They then used the same camera to photograph the negative and generate a positive.

Here's a link to a thread on Photonet that you might find interesting. http://photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00ZCV4

Glenn
 
You can also place your paper negative on another sheet of paper, emulsion to emulsion, to re-expose for a positive image. I've read of it, but never done it.
 
Assuming you have a darkroom, couldn't you just meter the light from you enlarger and use the amount of time you exposure the paper for and the aperture of the lens to figure out what the speed of the paper actually is, or am I missing something? I haven't used a real darkroom since highschool
 
yeah, the paper speed is really slow, look it up.

Todd
 
I did this many years ago. Started with a standard single weight #2 paper and exposed to create a paper negative. I then contact printed through the paper neg to make a positive image. the results were surprisingly impressive...good detail and tonal range. The key was to apply a thin coat of vaseline to the paper side of the neg rendering it somewhat transluscent. It was a trick my professor had learned form Arnold Gassen. I no longer have the print but would encourage anyone to give it try. It works well.
 
Beat me to it K14- Large Format Forum has a bunch on this, as should apug.

ISO is 6 at best, and using a multicontrast paper and a grade 1 filter can help. Shadow detail has always been the struggle whenever I've helped students with this- but in a one person darkroom you can control contrast a lot more easily with developer & dilution.

Ilford has just come out with a direct positive paper for camera use:

RC or Fiber.
 
Thanks guys, those links helped a lot! I'm going to get some Harman Direct Positive paper and try that, it really looks like fun.
 
One of my students is doing this right now. The paper ISO is quite slow, as mentioned, and the size of the aperture will make a big difference as well. I have a Daylab 4x5 pinhole camera with an f/stop of about 258, as I recall; it accepts 4x5 film holders, so I sometimes cut Ilford papers to 4x5 and load the holders with that. Exposures in bright sunlight vary from 10 to 60 seconds, depending on shady areas, etc. In darker conditions the times might run to 10 to 30 minutes.

My student is exposing paper in home-made pinhole cameras - the usual oatmeal box, Pringles can sort of thing - with much smaller pinholes, made with a #10 sewing needle. His exposures vary widely, since he's done some indoors that took almost 2 hours, some outdoors that took 30 minutes. Those times are obviously due to the size of the pinhole apertures, and will vary widely as lighting conditions, type of paper, and f/stop are changed.

When making a paper positive from a paper negative, the process used for making photograms works quite weil. Take fresh photo paper, place it emulsion side up under your enlarger with the lens set at f8, place your paper negative emulsion side down on top of it, and place a piece of clean window glass on it, just as you would if you were making a contact sheet.

With a heavy piece of cardboard, cover all the negative except about an inch, and expose for 5 seconds. Move the cardboard to uncover another inch of the negative, and expose that for 5 seconds. Continue in this fashion until all sections of the paper have been exposed in 5 second increments. Develop this test print, and use the best exposure to make your final print. (As with any process, you might need to adjust these test strips for more or less time for best results.)

Develop, wash, and dry as you would any other photograph.

Paper negatives are a great deal of fun, and are akin to the first attempts at photographic processes. They are a bit frustrating to work with at first, until you practice a bit, but have a wonderful quality unique to themselves when you work with them awhile. If/when you have success doing this, a nice touch for a vintage look is to soak the print in coffee or tea, for a nice sepia quality.

I have to add I'm no expert, and I'm certain there are many others out there with better/faster/easier/fancier/cooler methods for doing this, but this ought to get you started!

Mark
 
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