I'm a little late to this thread so if this has already been mentioned, my apologies. Actually at least one of the Kodak Grand Central Colorama's was made from a 35mm transparency. Here's a posting from Phil Greenspun's site:
"I would like to remind a very good example of the enlargement from Popular Photography, September 1978, p.75: "For the first time ever, a 35mm transparency was used for Kodak's 60-foot long Colorama in New York's Grand Central Station. All previous Kodak Coloramas (27 years worth) were made from Large-format negatives. What was truly astonishing was the fact that the tiny 35mm transparency, though magnified an incredible 516 times, retained sharpness. A very impressive testimonial to the quality of Leica lenses and photographer Ernst Haas. The camera: Leicaflex SL with Summicron 50mm lens". Good luck, -- Victor Randin ([EMAIL PROTECTED]), October 19, 2000. " Dave F. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Arthur Entlich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, November 12, 2001 2:25 AM Subject: Re: filmscanners: Kodak Grand Central Diorama (Was: the 10 foot print from 35mm...) > Frank, > > Thanks for the correction on this. It did seem working from 35mm would > have been "a stretch", obviously more a stretch than reasonable at the > best. I can't recall the subject matter of the ones I saw, just that > they were pretty impressive, and very large! Do you recall what the > enlargement ratio was from the 9" x 18" film image to _____?? > > Art > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > The Grand Central Station transparencies were made from large format > > originals. Some were shot with 9 x 18 inch aerial cameras; the one > > featuring the U.S. Navy "Blue Angels" flying formation over (I forget -- > > it was either Niagara Falls or Mt. Rushmore), for example. That one was > > the subject of a Kodak "documentary" film made at the time and used for > > promotional purposes. Showed pretty much the whole complex production > > process for the huge transparencies. > > > > All the best, > > Frank Peele > > Pacific Photographic > > Redlands, CA > > > >