Top glass in negative carrier advantages vs disadvantages.

[GoodOldNorm]

How many of you use glass in your negative carrier?
Glass in the bottom only, glass in the top only or glass top and bottom? Or if you use no glass do you use a cold light head or keep exposures short? How long does it take for a 4x5 negative to start distorting from the heat in a dichrioc or condensor enlarger, your thoughts please.

[Tin Can]

4X5 I use Neg-A-Flat

I have variations on stretchers for 5X7 and 8X10

[koraks]

No glass here. Too much hassle with dust, and I find it unnecessary for the size I print at. I.e., I cannot tell the difference between glass and no glass for the prints I make in terms of sharpness. I use a 'cold' LED light source + a stack of condensor glass so no heating whatsoever of the negative. Negative carriers are cobbled together from MDF, leftover bits of steel plate and magnets, and work surprisingly well, especially for 35mm & 4x5". Enlarger is a very ancient Durst 138 I got for free a few years ago.

The whole setup is an absolute joy to use for color and B&W from 35mm up to 4x5" (and maybe 5x7" but I don't shoot that size). I don't regret having shelved the various bits and pieces of AN glass I accumulated over the years and settling on a glassless workflow despite what some people say about it being 'impossible' to get good prints this way. If I can't see the difference even with a loupe, I'm good.

[bob carnie]

I use regular glass on bottom and AN glass on top, I stopped printing without glass carriers years ago. Keep the humidity up and have a negative setup station with the tools you need to clean neg. I do a lot of split contrast printing with lots of exposures and dread the negative popping .

[Tin Can]

Just to state the obvious

Glass negatives emulsion down and need nothing

[Oren Grad]

For 4x5 negatives, I use a carrier with top AN glass and bottom regular glass.

How long does it take for a 4x5 negative to start distorting from the heat in a dichrioc or condensor enlarger, your thoughts please.

It could easily be just a few seconds, but it depends on the design of your enlarger head, on environmental conditions in your darkroom and on your working habits. It could vary between printing sessions, depending on how tightly you control temperature and humidity in your darkroom, and it could vary within a printing session depending on how much time your enlarger lamp stays on for focusing and for exposures. Only way to know for sure is to carefully observe negative behavior in your own system with a grain focuser.

[neil poulsen]

Glass is a hassle, so I've avoided it. Plus, I've heard stories of having to deal with Newton rings.

I have an adapter where I can use Omega D5 carriers with my enlarger, and I have a Omega glass carrier. Were I to give this a try, I would use the bottom, but not the top glass. Maybe not as good as top and bottom glass, but limited hassle. Better than a regular, glassless negative carrier.

[Bob Salomon]

No glass here. Too much hassle with dust, and I find it unnecessary for the size I print at. I.e., I cannot tell the difference between glass and no glass for the prints I make in terms of sharpness. I use a 'cold' LED light source + a stack of condensor glass so no heating whatsoever of the negative. Negative carriers are cobbled together from MDF, leftover bits of steel plate and magnets, and work surprisingly well, especially for 35mm & 4x5". Enlarger is a very ancient Durst 138 I got for free a few years ago.

The whole setup is an absolute joy to use for color and B&W from 35mm up to 4x5" (and maybe 5x7" but I don't shoot that size). I don't regret having shelved the various bits and pieces of AN glass I accumulated over the years and settling on a glassless workflow despite what some people say about it being 'impossible' to get good prints this way. If I can't see the difference even with a loupe, I'm good.

Why if you have a problem with dust with glass does your dust not bother you without glass? Glass doesn’t make dust appear or disappear. And, if you have dust it will be further from the image plane with glass.

[Conrad . Marvin]

Keep it clean and you will not have dust issues. I use both glass with AN glass and non glass carriers with success. What I cannot seem to duplicate is my old enlarger had a glass carrier with a 1/4” plate glass top, but there were some marks on it which showed up on the print so I replaced it and got Newton rings. Finally I got a piece of AN glass and that quieted them down.

[Erik Larsen]

I use regular non an glass on both top and bottom for my Fotar with 8x10 negs. Have never seen any Newton rings. I think living in an area with low humidity helps my situation. For 4x5 with my Omega D5xl I usually go glasses.