Hi Guys

I wonder if any of you might be able to help.

My Dad has racing pigeons and has a couple of pictures that he would like enlarged to say 14 x 10 or something similar. I took the negatives etc into the photo shop today and because it is an APS Film they can only go as big as a 10 x 8. Do any of you know of a company in the UK I could send them for them to be enlarged bigger than this 10 x 8 ? They said they could do it from the actual picture but you would loose quality.

Cheers guys

Dessie :D :D

Hi there,
You could try taking the negs to a professional photograper, they might beable to fit them into their enlarger and do it that way. I've never done this (APS film did'nt exist when I was snapping!) so I don't know wether it's possible. You would loose a lot of clarity if you had enlargments taken from the original prints-they would be very grainy. This is because to make an enlargement from a photograph, you have to make a negative from the original photo, then enlarge that to make the bigger print, all that means you loose a lot of detail, which is what makes a good photograph look sharp and well focused. Sorry to ramble, but I think it's all there! Hope it helps some.
Nic :)

One way of doing it by using the original negs - take them to a real pro, who may be able to create an "interneg" - this is basically a standard enlargement, but made on positive film instead of paper. A negative "printed" on to positive film makes a new, large negative which can be enlarged again. The process does lose a little clarity, but not as much as over-enlarging from an original or from an existing print. It is, however, EXTREMELY expensive. :(

Ask about locally, but NOT in your "average" processor. Jessops might know, your local paper might know or a pro wedding photog might know.

However, it is always advisable to look at the photo VERY critically, to ensure that all the factors are excellent - sharpness, lighting, etc. - if there are any faults, they will look a lot worse when magnified. :(

Thanks for one bit of info, though - never having used APS, I wasn't aware that there were enlargement restrictions on it - I use 35mm and have managed to get a 20" x 30" out of one of those, without significant degradation. Mind you, it was Kodak Ektar 25, which is nearly grain-free :)

HTH

Snorri
Twilight Zone paparazzo

I don't know if you have a local printing place that can get photocopies and enlargements done at? I had some standard size photographs that I needed *blown up* very big, for a display and they did some on photo paper,and laminated others for me. I was very impressed with the results and the clarity was spot on too. If you have such a place, have a word and see what they can do for you :-)

Try www.colab.com. Failing that, try emailing Justin at www.club35.co.uk, he is very helpful.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I will follow up on them and see what they can do.

Unfortunately we don't the only big company we have for film developing on the Island is Boots !! and sometimes they are good but others times the quality of the prints is quite poor.

Dessie :D :D

I know exactly what you mean, Dessie - us islanders don't get a lot of choice, do we? Boots are generally terrible, because all they have (usually) is someone trained to use the D&P machine, not a professional printer :( Even here, they send them away off-island to get done!

However, you may have a private pro somewhere, or an enthusiastic amateur who can do it?

Snorri
Twilight Zone photoperson