alignment w/negatrans

[Richard Schlesinger]

I saw a mention of the negatrans on an enlarger question: which reminds me. I have a Beseler MCR enlarger and use a laser alignment tool. It works really well; whenever I change formats I can align the new lens and check neg alignment inside five minutes. However I have been unable to determine where to place the glass alignment slide to get it in the negative plane. On top of the negatrans? Inside on top of some of the mechanism? Taped to the bottom? Short of going out and buying a depth micrometer and trying to determine where the negative is in relation to the top I'm stuck. Does anyone know where to place the alignment slide?

[ronald moravec]

In theory, if the film plane is parallel to the baseboard with one carrier, it is parallel with all and that is sufficient. It might be a little higher or lower, but that should make no difference.

If I had carriers where the film went out of parallel, I would shim it so it would match the main carrier I used. Set it up with a glass carrier and make everything else match.

Lenses are a different matter. I would not bet all four corners of the neg will be in focus with every lens just because the front flange is parallel to the baseboard. That is the reason I check corners with the 10 Peak grain focus. Or you can make prints using scraps in each corner of a large print. Shim the lens boards with tape until all four corner get sharp, again after setting up the the most used format lens.

I`m sure you are not happy hearing this after purchasing a lazer, but it is a fact.