Contact Printing - Where to Start?

[Scott Walker]

Thanks John, I didn't know that a vacuum easel was even an option for contact printing. Can you recomend a good brand to purchase.

[Michael Kadillak]

Scott,
Get yourself a vacuum easel. It eliminates the glass and two surfaces to attract dust. I've found using a vacuum easel to be a real time saver in the darkroom. I have a 16x20 easel and use the cardboard that kodak puts in with film to mask off the print. I can't remember the last time I had to spot a contact print.

Good luck

Completely agree with John. A vacuum easel is the way to go.

I live in a dry climate as well here in Denver and hang my LF and ULF negatives in a metal drying cabinet and have absolutely no problems with any dust. I have done enough tray processing such that I no longer have any scratching problems with even the soft Efke emulsions as far as processing them. As a direct result spotting prints is such an innocuous event that I could likely avoid the process altogether. I find myself being picky so I take a minute or two for a quick spotting and I feel better afterwards.

[Pawlowski6132]

Excuse my ignorance but, what is a Green Monster?

[Oren Grad]

Third is them pesky newton rings, although not visible without magnification I have never been able to make a contact print without a few showing up when I go to spot the print, and yes I use the expensive glass that supposedly cures this problem.

Try using a glass sandwich - that is, don't use a contact printing frame, just lay a piece of glass on your work surface, put down the paper and the negative, then lay a slab of 3/16" glass on top and make the exposure through that. In my darkroom, that's the only approach among the many I've tried that gives a good yield of prints without Newton's rings. And it's cheap, too.

[John Bowen]

Thanks John, I didn't know that a vacuum easel was even an option for contact printing. Can you recomend a good brand to purchase.

Scott,

I'm not aware of any manufacturers that currently produce vacuum easels. I got mine off Ebay. If I could pick a brand, it would be Kostinger (I know I misspelled the name). I wouldn't worry too much about the vacuum, I thnk you could probably use a shopvac for the vacuum.

Michael A. Smith and a lot of others use vacuum FRAMES. Those are different animals and have glass, but will give a much better vacuum than a vacuum Easel. I find the vacuum easel works fine for my prints on single weight Azo (with some curl) or Lodima.

Best,

[GabrielSeri]

Excuse my ignorance but, what is a Green Monster?

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...umetc8x10.html

Calumet C1 8x10

[Ron McElroy]

I'm curious as to how one can use a vacuum easel to contact print. Does the negative need to be larger than the paper? Do you tape a mask with a window opening the size of the print to the negative?

[Pawlowski6132]

Aha! I saw that one too.

My opinion is to use the Fomalux 111 and Amidol. I think it's an awesome paper. Lots of contrast and takes to selenium toning VERY well. Plus, the DW is great for handling and fiber base is nice. Plus it's cheap and still being made. Really, give it a shot.

[Rayt]

Excuse my ignorance but, what is a Green Monster?

I thought it had something to do with baseball!

[John Bowen]

I'm curious as to how one can use a vacuum easel to contact print. Does the negative need to be larger than the paper? Do you tape a mask with a window opening the size of the print to the negative?

Ron,

I contact 8x10 negatives on 8x10 paper on a 16x20 vacuum easel. I use the cardboard Kodak ships with ULF film (8x20 & 7x17 in my case) to lay on top of the film rebate to create a window. I have read of others using thin mountboard pieces to accomplish the same thing.