Definitely get a Nega-Flat carrier. They do rust so don't buy sight unseen. What lens are you using?
Tom
Definitely get a Nega-Flat carrier. They do rust so don't buy sight unseen. What lens are you using?
Tom
I finally got Humpty-Dumpty back together again, so I thought I'd share some pics of what I ended up doing. First pic shows all that's left of the upper stage of the MXT after modifications. Second is the light itself (shown without opal glass diffuser in place) that I put together by building a housing around a 5x7 lamp that I got on ebay some time ago and using the guts of a Zone VI cold light that also came from ebay (cheap, cuz it's bulb had broken). The only thing I added was the switch so I could turn the heat on and off without having to unplug it (the switch is illuminated also, so I know when heat is on). Next is the whole assembly in place on the enlarger. Last pic is what things look like when projected onto the board. The negative carrier is machined out so the opening is a little over a full 4x5 inches and modified to carry larger glass than a standard carrier. It definitely wasn't easy, but I'm glad I did it. I always wanted to be able to print the full negative on occasion, so now I can. Even when I don't, the coverage and evenness of the bigger light should be a vast improvement over the circular Zone VI unit that this replaces.
What do you mean by full frame? Being able to see the rebate edge of the film? Do you mean like the days of old when people used to simply file their negative carriers so it has a slightly larger opening so that the rebate edge of the film is printed too?
There are a few negative carriers that use anti-newton glass so that entire negatives can be printed, not just part of the rebate edge, but the entire negative, including the frames with film numbers, name of film, etc. These glass carriers also work with odd sized film for when you don't have a negative carrier to fit that specific size.
Omega made a really cool version that had interleaving cropping blades in addition to holding the film flat. It eliminated the soft edges that sometimes faded to white and you ended up with crisp sharp edges all around.
I hope this helps.
Larry
Looks like nice work you have done!Originally Posted by k_redder
That is certainly more working room around the negative than an 8x10 negative in a Durst 10x10 carrier.
How is your evenness of illumination?
Next time I get in to do some printing, I'll run an official test. At first glance, it seems like this assembly is a significant improvement. The Zone VI unit that this replaces had enough falloff towards the edge that you could see it just by looking at an empty carrier projected onto the baseboard. No signs of anything like that with this so far. Coverage will definitely not be an issue, but if the test shows any signs of the bulb itself I have enough room to add spacers to the plate that carries the bulb (and everything else) which will move the bulb a little farther away from the diffuser, which should help.
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