Printing full 4x5 fram on beseler 45mx

[monkeymon]

Is there a simple way to print full 4x5 negative with condenser light head on beseler 45mcrx?

[Jon Shiu]

You can use a sheet of glass to hold the neg. Can use black tape and paper to mask the clear area around the film area.

Jon

[monkeymon]

i have tried clear glass, it still crops corners to a round shape.. but i'll try it again, to see if if was only the negative border that was cropped, that i could just burn in afterwards

[Ari]

I think the MCRX is a great 3x4 enlarger, because it barely does 4x5.
What you want is nearly impossible with the condenser; I replaced the condenser with a cold light head that sits 1,5 inches above the negative (I kept the filter drawer in its spot), and I still get a slight rounding of one or two corners.
I replaced the neg holder with two pieces of glass, and once in a while, if I place the neg exactly in the center and the stars align, I get all four corners.
I'm also in the process of modifying my Beseler 4x5 glass carrier so that it doesn't crop any part of the negative; maybe that will work better.
Last resort? I got an old 5x7 enlarger. It might do the trick, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.
Let me know if you prove me wrong!

[Mike1234]

Look for a Negaflat film holder in good condition. They are the best!! :) Oh... and a cold light head. :D

[k_redder]

I've been looking into doing the very same thing with my 45MXT. The short answer is that there is no "simple" way. Even if you machine out your carrier opening and modify it to accept bigger glass (or just using a sheet of glass as has been suggested), you will then be up against the (too small) diameter of the light source (I can only speak to trying this with a cold light since I don't own a condenser head) since the adaptor that holds the cold light housing has an opening that is only 6.25 inches which is pretty much exactly the corner to corner on the film. The problem is that even under the best of circumstances (cold light resting on carrier), the actual light source (the surface of the diffusing glass) is still going to be about .25 inch from the film (top glass + top half of carrier + thickness of adaptor that holds the diffusing glass) which is enough to start eating into the corners. As far as I can tell, you need a modified carrier, a bigger light source, and some modifications to the enlarger itself to accomodate the larger light source. I'm currently in the process of doing all of the above, and should be far enough along to post some pics sometime soon. It seems crazy to go through all this to print a part of the negative that was never intended to get printed, but so be it.

[Jim Noel]

I have used a 45 MXT with both condenser and VC heads for many years. Using a glass carrier with the upper bellows completely compressed I have never had a problem with round corners. The same was true when I used a Negaflat. If it is raised the least amount, rounded corners will result.
I stopped using the Negaflat because of the occasional tearing of the edges of the film.

[ic-racer]

Full frame printing without using an enlarger one-size-bigger can be difficult no matter what the size. Even my 10x10 enlarger requires millimeter-precise placement of the negative in the glass holder to be able to do full frame. Even then there is very little 'black' outside the negative area; thus requiring tedious placement of the easel and precise setting of the magnification and easel blades.

[CG]

Are you using a slightly short lens for the 4x5 printing, like a 135mm? I haven't tested this idea, but I think a slightly longer lens gets a better "view" of the light source. The concept is that a short focal length with wider angle of projection below the lens is accompanied by a wider cone of "view" above the lens, and that that angle is more demanding of the breadth of the light source.

I wonder if anyone has tested this idea? I have not the stable of enlarging lenses to do so.

By the way, very interesting photographs in your very clean web site too....

[Wade D]

For 4x5 negs I use a 210mm Schneider lens on my 45MCRX. I can't get as big of an enlargement on the baseboard but have not seen light falloff at the corners. With a 150mm lens there is slight falloff. Condenser at 4x5 setting.

[Tom Monego]

Definitely get a Nega-Flat carrier. They do rust so don't buy sight unseen. What lens are you using?

Tom

[k_redder]

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.

[Larry McNeil]

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

[ic-racer]

I finally got Humpty-Dumpty back together again,

Looks like nice work you have done!

That is certainly more working room around the negative than an 8x10 negative in a Durst 10x10 carrier.

How is your evenness of illumination?

[k_redder]

Looks like nice work you have done!

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.