Easel For Printing 16x20 and 20x24

[tgtaylor]

Hi all,

Here's my problem:

I just purchased a Besler MXT. I shoot mostly medium and large format (4x5). I usually print 8x10, less often 11x14, and even less 16x20. Although I haven't yet, I can envision printing 20x24 for the "right" image. I have a 11x14 and easel. With the enlarger I have, Should I get a 20x24 easel which will print both 16x20 and 20x24, or a 16x20 easel AND a 20x24 easel?

If you have faced this same issue, I would greatly appreciate your reasoning to its solution,

Thanks,

Thomas

[Nick_3536]

I have a big Beard easel and the thing is huge. So big I can't imagine using it for smaller images. I forget it's actual dimensions but the outside must be around 30"x30". It sort of fills the baseboard.

[lenser]

You might consider a 20x24 vacuum easel with markings for both that and 16x20. They sometimes show up on ebay, but you could actually build one by making a fairly air tight, shallow box with a fitting for your vacuum cleaner hose. Make the platten from a thin piece of aluminum thats been bored with a ton of holes about an inch apart at most, then paint it flat black and mark it for the corners or outlines of all the sizes you want to print. Just be sure to outline the prints from the center point.

I saw plans for one of these years ago and it looked pretty easy to make and use. Be sure to add a few small blocks near the center that match the edge height so it can't sag out of focus.

Tim

[JimL]

I ended up with both 16x20 and 20x24 easels, and now realize that one advantage is if you're printing 16x20 and doing some cropping which requires you to move the easel toward the enlarger column (off-center, that is), the easel can hit the column before you get it in the right place. Ways around this are to turn the neg 180 degrees or put the 16x20 paper in the 20x24 slot, both of which are a bit cumbersome. The 20x24 easel is also more unwieldy to move around. Actually, my LPL DM4500 (an older model) requires some gymnastics with the blade settings to even make a 20x24, so check the clearance between lens and column of your enlarger and consider the extra width around the paper that the easel requires for blades and frame.

The Saunders 20x24 4-blade (the one with the narrow frame, not the V-track) measures about 12 3/4" from the top edge of the base to the center point of any size paper in its designated slot, so that's the minimum lens to column distance you need for a centered print (of any size). If I'm not mistaken, the Beseler has a slanted column which makes things a little more complicated, as lens to column distance at the baseboard will vary with both print size and lens focal length. Anyway, I'm glad I have both. If you do only the occasional 20x24, you could probably rig up an improvised easel using mat board or some other material.

Jim

[ic-racer]

When I was looking for an, I also thought going 20x24 might be nice, in case I want to move up in the future. What I found out was that the 16x20 4 blade easel I got is very big! It overlaps my 4x5 Omega baseboard by a few inches all the way around. My Besseler 16x20 easel measures 30" across, and my Omega 4x5 baseboard only measures 22" across. It works fine like that but it 'looks' too big. I'm glad I did not go with the bigger 20x24 easel.

[Gene McCluney]

The "smallest" 16x20 easel would be a 16x20 speed ezl. The yellow fix border easel that you slide the paper in on either end. I have one. It is just slightly bigger than the paper that fits into it.

[Brian Ellis]

The Saunders speed ezls that Gene mentions are your best bet for something reasonable in cost, size and weight if you end up buying two. I had the 16x20. I also had the 11x14 Saunders adjustable. The 16x20 speed ezl was much lighter and less expensive than the 11x14 adjustable.

[Pat Kearns]

From an economy standpoint the speed easels mentioned earlier are a good way to go. I wrestled that question for the longest time and every once in a while I'd bid on a Saunders 20x24 4 blade easel when I saw one on ebay. There was always someone else that had to have it more than I did and the bids went higher than I was willing to go. Then one evening there was lack of interest in one I was pleasantly surprised that my bid won out. When it arrived and I unpacked it I couldn't believe the size of it. I have a Beseler enlarger and that 20x24 easel covers the baseboard and then some. It is nice to have one easel that will cover all sizes but I would suggest that you take a tape measure and start measuring your darkroom. It takes a lot of room to print 20x24 photos. I thought my 6' sink was large until.....

[tgtaylor]

Hi all,

I bought the Saunders 16x20 Universal off E-bay last night for $203. The guy E-mailed me this afternoon saying he was shipping it NLT Wednesday.

I have used this same easel on a Beseler MXII and MXT and know that it works well. I had a chance to buy the Saunders 16x20 speed easel last Thursday for real cheap, like $10, but passed it up because I wanted something more sturdy like the Universal. Reading your posts, I started to regret that. But that's now water over the dam and I think that in the long run the sturdiness of the Universal will pay off.

The question is still out on the 20x24. I did the meaurement on the MXT baseboard and, right, I would have to turn the easel and negative 90 degrees and use a 150mm lens to make it work. Also, at 27 lbs the 20x24 Universal easel is almost twice the weight of the 16x20. It's a big sucker and I would need big trays and museum board to match.

Big question: If I get an image that 20x24 would do justice to, would it sell? A mounted 20x24 takes up a lot of real estate.

Thomas

[Nick_3536]

The real big easels are often reasonable used. My Beard was $50. Sure it cost almost $60 to ship but most don't even bid on these biggins. So if you take time you could add a bigger easel for not much and if it sits gathering dust 90% of the time no big deal.