[Leica] Curious about enlargements made by LUG forum members

[firkin at ncable.net.au (Alastair Firkin)]

On 11/07/2005, at 10:35 PM, Scott McLoughlin wrote:

> I really enjoyed Barry Thornton's book as well. Nicely written, 
> although I've
> also heard from some detractors regarding his opinions on max print 
> size
> (10x10" from a Hassie negative, for example).

to be fair, I thought I should look it up: in Edge of Darkness, he 
makes the statement that to seek perfection, and a print which cannot 
be "bettered" by other formats, you should limit enlargement with an 
upper limit of 11 to 12" for a 35mm neg and 15" square for a 6 x 6. The 
10" square comment comes in the next sentence, and says that if we make 
a 10" square image from 6x6 it is still "larger" in area than his 
recommended 7 x 11" image from a 35 neg and would be "easier" to make a 
perfect print from, whereas the 35mm enlargement is at its upper 
limits. These comments were for most negs, admitting that with 
conditions being "right" (and by that I like to think using Leica 
lenses  ;-) ) one can make larger prints.

cheers

Alastair