how big can 35mm neg enlarge?

[Phoenixolivia]

Before it starts to look crappy?

[tegan]

Before it starts to look crappy?

I have enlarged to 16 X 20 inches. It depends on good quality film, so that you do not for example see grain. Test-wise Kodak Gold colour print film has the best reputation for sharpness and resolution even over the professional films. Lighting and exposure need to be perfect. A tripod is almost a necessity too. Focus, depth of field, shutter speed need to be right on and contrast needs to be crisp enough to emphasize sharpness. The type of subject also determines the effectiveness of a large blow-up. Buildings, street views and scenics with verticals and good perspective work well. There needs to be detail throughout the picture since small blown out highlight areas or too dark areas become much larger and more distracting in a blow-up to a large size.

Hope this helps!

Tegan

[Marko]

I've actually gone up to 20x24 with 100 speed film and the results were excellent (when viewed at the appropriate viewing distance NOT 1-2 inches from my eye.

As you enlarge higher and higher the appropriate viewing distance increases. I believe (not sure here) that the appropriate distance for traditional prints is 1 to 1.5x the diagonal of that print.

Hope that helps,

Marko