pin registered neg carrier for devere 8x10 enlarger

[Andrew_3677]

I use an 80's vintage Devere 8x10 enlarger and have been looking for someway to incorporate pin registration into my negative carrier for doing masking etc... any recommendations?

thanks -andrew

[Andre Noble]

Hello Andrew,

If I can be of help:

I have seen the pin registration materials that Durst USA sells and they are quite pricey for the 8x10 size especially.

But Alistair Inglis manufactures a professional pin registration systems which includes an 4x5/5x7/8x10 version. It comes with an pin registration easel (equiped with a nice white hinged plastic acrylic diffusion cover - and a clear glass hinged cover is an $40 accesory) and a seperate pin registration punch. Even with the extra, but probably necessary clear hinged glass cover, the total set is about $400 with free shipping.

Tiny holes are drilled on the far edges of your original film and masking film with the punch. You later stack your neg/transparency on top of the masking film, and close the white diffussion cover to expose your mask.

After you develp your mask, and it is air-dried, you use the easel to precisely re-register tthe neg/tranparency with the film mask, and then use a few narrow strips of polyester tape to sandwich the two back in alignment.

This sandwich can then be removed and placed on your normal negative carrier to expose your paper. (If you want more automaticity than this, he may be able to take your current carrier and put pins in that which match the punch/easel set.)

I just received this 4x5/5x7/8x10 version last week. It really is professionally made, and you can tell great care went into maufacturing it. If you are intersted, email me and I will forward you a picture of what the 8x10 version looks like.

[Brian Ellis]

Exactly what sort of "masking" do you have in mind? If you're talking about masking as in sharp and unsharp masking, you don't need a pin registered negative carrier to do that. You just need something along the lines Andre describes.

[Andrew_3677]

Thanks Andre, Brian...yes, I was primarily thinking of unsharp/sharp masks. Brian, do u just tape the neg and mask together after registering on a lightbox?

[Brian Ellis]

Hi Andrew - Yes, you can just tape them together though I don't use a light box, I put the negative and the mask back on the same pins that were used to make the mask and tape them there, then put the sandwich in the negative carrier (I use a glass carrier to eliminate the possibility of sagging). You could put them together on a light box but using the pins seems more precise since you're putting the negative and mask back together just as they were when the mask was made.