Can someone please help explain what exactly this is and how and why someone would use it.
The only information that i can find on it is located here.
http://www.daviddoubley.com/Document...ncountered.pdf
Thank you
Can someone please help explain what exactly this is and how and why someone would use it.
The only information that i can find on it is located here.
http://www.daviddoubley.com/Document...ncountered.pdf
Thank you
I'm assuming it fits 8x10 film rather than 4x5 since my Condit 4x5 system is much smaller and less involved. I'm not sure what the pins on the side are for unless it fits into some larger vacuum press system for contact printing. I think I'm seeing two pins in the first open view at the top. Those would be used to align the punched film pieces for making a contrast reduction mask so they can be perfectly registered with each other with the fold down cover helping maintain edge to edge contact during exposure. A sandwich of transparency, clear spacer and black and white negative film would be put in and exposed to produce the unsharp mask, which can be manipulated by a mix of exposure time and development to determine how much one wants to reduce contrast and increase perceived sharpness in the final print. Then the transparency film/unsharp mask sandwich is aligned and paper exposed for the final print. I may be completely wrong given how different it looks from my 4x5 system, but it looks like that's what it's for. My system has a separate punch for the film pieces and then a holder to insert into my Saunders enlarger. Unfortunately Condit went out of business many years ago and many people who used the systems for unsharp mask production have either gone to Photoshop or stopped doing darkroom work.
Nice find. It's a valved contact frame, presumably with registration pins (hard to see on posted image). But you'd need to find a matching registration punch (nearly impossible), or more realistically, find a similar Condit punch and modify it.
A few Condit devices allowed for adjustment of diagonal pins (two pins at opposite film corners). But diagonal Condit punches are less common than linear ones, which punch on the side of the film.
Please give a closer shot of the pins.
Never mind. I got a better look on the big Mac screen. Its not for producing a mask, but for certain types of color contact printing. Looks like an early version and heavily-used. The pins look quite big and might possibly match the Kodak rather than Condit punch, or possibly the Durst punch.
I know this it'll be listed on eBay w/ a high BIN price if vssoutlet is true to form.
Lucky if you even get a bid. Matched sets w punch in clean condition are a different story. These things need to accurate within .002 in.
How would anyone know the right punch? The actual unit would have to be precisely measured. It doesn't look adjustable. But this is comping gear anyway, of little value for darkroom film masking purposes. Good Condit masking sets do come up from time to time. But mismatched pieces aren't any good.
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