Announcing the new 35mm & 120 format Intrepid colour Enlarger: coming March 19th 2021

News just in from the folks over at Intrepid Camera: a new model of their Intrepid Enlarger that can make colour and black and white darkroom prints from 35mm and 120 format film (up to 6×9!) According to the folks at Intrepid, the new enlarger comes after “more than a year of extensive testing, designing and prototyping”.

The device, which hits Kickstarter on March 19th — 2 years and 5 months after the original multiformat Intrepid Enlarger was first announced here on EMULSIVE — doesn’t work with large format film or larger than 6×9 medium format film but does include a number of impressive enhancements including a dedicated enlarger body, an updated, integrated LED light panel with contrast and colour balance control for filterless printing and timer/control unit.

The new enlarger is understandably smaller than its 4×5 predecessor and does not require the use of a donor 4×5 camera to “convert” into an enlarger. The kit will include:

• The enlarger body
• The light source (which attaches to the enlarger body)
• The timer (which contains all the controls),
• Negative carriers to hold your film

The enlarger body itself promises multiple spirit levels to ensure a level protection platform, linear guides for focusing and a standard threaded mount for attaching to a tripod or copy stand.

The timer controls everything else and has three modes: black and white, colour and scanning. It even comes with a built-in safelight!

Those modes in detail:

Black and white printing: Contrast filters are built into the LED light source so you can adjust them with a single dial without the need for separate filters. This mode works just like a traditional enlarger in terms of focusing, setting timer and exposing paper.

Colour printing: In this mode, you use the timer’s Cyan, Magenta and Yellow dials to alter the colour balance of your print. The light source has been specially calibrated in order to make colour printing as simple and accurate as possible.

Scanning: The third — and highly interesting — mode is as a light source to make scans of your colour or black and white film using a digital camera or smartphone. The light source is held magnetically to the Enlarger body so can be removed and used as a light source for scanning/digitising film.

All that’s needed in addition to the basic kit is:

• A tripod or copy stand to mount your enlarger to
• An enlarging lens (50mm for 35mm film and 80mm for 120)
• Darkroom chemicals and photo paper
• An easel/something to secure your paper to
• Tray, tongs and a grain/focus finder

…and of course, a dark room, or darkroom (these are just some basic suggestions, of course).

Intrepid says that a 4×5 version is planned further down the line but don’t be surprised if it appears as a stretch goal on the Kickstarter campaign. They will be creating a series of guide videos to help newcomers get to grips with darkroom printing.

The campaign is only 3 weeks away and you can sign up for updates directly with Intrepid right here. In terms of price, the Brighton-based company is understandably tight-lipped. Considering how much more evolved the new version is over the original module enlarger attachment and timer, I’m going to stick my neck out and take a guess at the £300 – £350 mark for the full kit. Let’s see how close that lands on March 19th!

I can’t wait!

~ EM