[Leica] Weston's 8x10 contact prints

[mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner)]

Well he did often use a smaller camera he used a 5x7 which he referred to as
"The Mini". And enlarged the prints with an enlarger which got light from a
hole in the wall. But his main work was with the 8x10. No timer for the
shutter of the camera it was done by feel as was done with the over head
light bulb to exposed the contact frame to make the print as was the time it
spent in the tray.

To this day an 8x10 print from an 8x10 E. Weston contact printed neg is a
basic important thing in the photo art world.


-- 
Mark William Rabiner
mark at rabinergroup.com


> From: Lawrence Zeitlin <lrzeitlin at gmail.com>
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2010 10:36:30 -0400
> To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
> Subject: [Leica] Weston's 8x10 contact prints
> 
> You are probably not old enough to remember but in Weston's time there were
> many who argued that his results would have been better if he used a
> "miniature" camera and enlarged to get the final print. Of course, at the
> time, "miniature" was anything smaller than 6x9 cm. My 1950's two pound
> Kodak Medalist was advertised as a miniature. The logic was simple.
> Miniature camera lenses were corrected for a much higher degree of
> resolution than large sheet film camera lenses. Most of the latter were
> optimized for large image circles so that lens shifts and other camera
> movements could be accommodated. Pundits suggested that even with the
> resolution loss of the enlarging process, Weston's pictures would have been
> sharper if he had used a smaller camera.
> 
> Larry Z