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Thread: anyone print 4x5 negatives with a black border?

  1. #1

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    Thumbs up anyone print 4x5 negatives with a black border?

    hi, I want to print the above at sizes larger than contact prints with a black border ("full-frame"). Is it possible to print a 4x5 negative on an old 4x5 Beseler enlarger which I use to print them at maybe 8x10 prints? Or do I have to move up to a 5x7 enlarger? Is it my enlarger lens length on my 4x5 enlarger that is too short? Also, can I modify my 4x5 enlarger to get a black border on prints?
    (please help me with this, if it has been discussed include links)
    thank you
    d david y

  2. #2

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    Re: anyone print 4x5 negatives with a black border?

    The black border is formed on the easel,not in the enlarger. You don't need a 5x7 enlarger.

  3. #3

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    Re: anyone print 4x5 negatives with a black border?

    If you're referring to 35mm full frame plus style then you need a neg carrier with a hole larger than the neg, and this implies that it needs to be glass. I rigged one up for myself from two pieces of glass, with a black masking tape hinge at the back, and on the inside of the bottom piece a black masking taped area to contain the negative, then I covered the rest of the glass on the outside with tape to mask off stray light. You will have to figure out where to put the negative to register it properly with the center of the lens, and if you don't use anti-newton ring glass on the top, you may or may not have newton ring problems. . . . I didn't.

    On my Omega D2 I arranged it so that when the carrier was pushed all the way to the back the neg was centered, front to back. I don't remember how I'd do that with a Beseler--maybe you will need a strip of something on the bottom to locate the carrier.

    Some glass carriers may do the job, also. I don't remember if the Omega glass carrier was oversize or not.
    Thanks, but I'd rather just watch:
    Large format: http://flickr.com/michaeldarnton
    Mostly 35mm: http://flickr.com/mdarnton
    You want digital, color, etc?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stradofear

  4. #4

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    Re: anyone print 4x5 negatives with a black border?

    hi Jim, when my enlarger is at it's highest height with my longest enlarging lens on my 4x5 enlarger the projected image onto the baseboard is cut-off on the corners, all four. My goal is to get a projected negative image that I can print without the corners cut-off. (printed with a visible border around it)

  5. #5
    Jon Shiu's Avatar
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    Re: anyone print 4x5 negatives with a black border?

    you can make a negative carrier from sheet of glass and then mask off the edges with black card/tape

    Jon
    my black and white photos of the Mendocino Coast: jonshiu.zenfolio.com

  6. #6
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    Re: anyone print 4x5 negatives with a black border?

    You need two things to be able to do that: a glass-sandwich negative carrier with an opening large enough to show the entire sheet of film including the edges, and an enlarger head that is designed to illuminate 4x5" plus a bit, rather than being squeezed down to exactly 96x120mm.

    That's easiest with a 5x7 enlarger, which will obviously have enough coverage and then some, but some 4x5 enlargers will work, too. I don't know about your Beseler.

  7. #7

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    Re: anyone print 4x5 negatives with a black border?

    hi mdarnton
    I made a glass-negative-carrier similar to yours without anti newton glass. I checked the top of the enlarging head to see if the corners of the 4x5 negative "cleared" the "hole" (sorry if not the right term") where the negative goes and the corners of the negative do "clear" it with no cutting off the them. puzzled? may have to look for an Omega 4x5 enlarger to print full-frame?

  8. #8

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    Re: anyone print 4x5 negatives with a black border?

    Is my enlarger lens at 135mm too short to print full frame? Would a 150mm possibly work?

  9. #9

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    Re: anyone print 4x5 negatives with a black border?

    You are printing 4X5 negatives, using a 4X5 (old) Beseler enlarger, and you are using a 135mm lens, right?
    The corners of the image are "cut off", right?
    It sounds to me that you have the lens stage adjusted for a shorter lens.

    If you look on the upper-right side of your lens stage, you should see a sliding scale,
    which is adjusted by raising or lowering the upper bellows, and there should be a scale marker to indicate negative size (35mm to 4X5 in.)

    There should be a knob on the LEFT side of the upper lens-stage, which will adjust the upper bellows; also, note that there is a smaller knob inward from the adjustment knob,
    which locks the shaft. You will want to make sure that the shaft is free to rotate.

    Try adjusting the upper bellows stretched upward, to its shorter (compressed) extent; this should be reflected on the scale opposite, to the 4X5 mark, which is at the bottom of the scale.

    Try that, and see whether the corners of your projected image are now clearly illuminated.

    Dan

  10. #10
    DG 3313's Avatar
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    Re: anyone print 4x5 negatives with a black border?

    I am playing with an 8x10 neg that was overexposed in the camera to wash out the image area but keep the reveal clear without fogging it.

    After I processed the neg...I have a black image area that blocks the light falling on the paper except the reveal. I contact print this and then on another enlarger....I expose my print on the same paper. The reveal area is already black so, it won't show anything from the second exposure.

    Still playing with it and not quite right yet.

    Don

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