OK. I'm as anal as anyone here, and yes, I also put a scrap of the same paper under my grain focusser, but I seriously doubt any one of us could tell the difference between prints made one with and one without. Clearly, proper enlarger and easel alignment are way more important.
Also, as a rule of thumb, focussing should be done approximately halfway between the center and the corner of the projected image.
Hi
I never put a paper under the grainfocuser at all. Maybe I would do it if I would work with f stop f 2.8 on the lens but I don't do it!
Years ago I did a test and could not see a difference in sharpness at f 5.6 at all so what!
I'll add to the chorus for grain magnifiers.
For determining exposure, I use a Stouffer TX exposure guide, and/or a Jobo Comparator 100 meter.
http://www.stouffer.net/Photo.htm
http://www.jobo-usa.com/products/comparator100.htm
If you want to check your grain focuser's accuracy, be sure to do it with the lens aperture wide open, as enlarging lenses gain depth of field/focus (which is which in an enlarger?) the same way camera lenses do. And remember, if your focus or enlarger registration is off a little, shutting down the aperture might save you.
I'd also check the registration of the whole system by putting in a flat piece of glass where the negative carrier goes with some markings or flat objects (I use little hairs held flat between two pieces of glass), and check with the grain focuser to see you can get them all in focus at once all over the picture area. Then try making a print (all this at max aperture) to see if it all stays in focus.
BTW, I have a very tall old Bessler grain focuser that has a high magnification. I can (barely) see the grain enlarging an FP4+/Ilfosol 8x10 neg to 11x14. Love it!
"I love my Verito lens, but I always have to sharpen everything in Photoshop..."
Hi there,
From 4X5 to 8X10 a good pair of reading glasses may be easier with fine grain film. I use both the 'Magna-sight' and the 'Peak' and both are accurate. Paper to raise the magnifier??? I thought it was to compose the picture. Yes, I am 'anal' enough to paint the easels flat black.
Just a thought.
low power grain focusers don' t work with large format . get a microsight 25x and put a piece of photo paper in the easel.
a grain focuser is easy to use & has been a big help to me - i can focus with the lens wide open & then stop down to my desired f/stop
I use a Microsight all the time, they are excellent grain focusers. And I too, put a piece of paper under it!
Also a Microsight user. It seems to offer a good balance of function and value. The more expensive ones let you see farther out from the lens axis.
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