5X7 Glassless Negative carriers

[John Moye]

I have a Beseler 8X10 cold light head, on Beseler 4X5 enlarger. Have been looking for 5X7 glassless negative carrier. Can anyone help me. I tried both the Beseler 5X7 glassless negative carrier (to big), & the Omega 5X7 glassless negative carrier (to small). This past weekend at an estate sale. I found two glassless negative carriers made for the 5X7 Elwood enlarger. The one for 5X7 film is model #NC-2 It is almost a perfect fit to sit on top of the 8X10 glassless negative carrier supplied with the Beseler 8X10 cold light head. To make it lay completely flat, I will either have to trim down the outside long edges of the 5X7 negative carrier, or sand down or remove the four positioning pins (two on each of the upper 10" side of the 8X10 negative carrier). Does anyone know of someone in the Chicago land area that can do it for me. Last time, I had a machinist work on a Cambo 8X10 film back. It did not work out so well. He removed more than he should have, & back was ruined. I have tried to find information on the glassless negative carriers made for 5X7 Elwood enlargers. Did not find any information. I can be contacted at moye44@aol.com

[Ironage]

I have an old Elwood 5 x 7 and might be interested to see what a glassless carrier would look like. I have a glass carrier and was wondering how a glassless carrier would hold the negative flat. Could you post a picture?

[John Moye]

images are of the 5X7glassless negative carrier/holder made by "The Kriser Corp" for 5X7 Elwood enlarger. Click on each image to enlarge. [/attach]

[Michael Graves]

Would you not be a able to use one of the 5x7 negative masks made for flatbed scanners. I know they make one because I own one. I just don't know what scanner it was originally designed for. I use it with my 4990, but just looking at it makes me think that it would fill your bill perfectly.

[John Moye]

If you are talking about the Epson 4990 scanner. I just went to a web site, that looks as if it offers 5X7 negative mask for film scanners. I sent an e-mail to the site detailing how I wanted to use the 5X7 film mask. I need it to do two things. Hold the film flat, & fit into the 8X10 film holder that was made for my cold light head. Unfortunately, there is no place I can view the film mask. One of the down sides to everything now being sold on the Internet.

[Kevin Crisp]

I use the 8X10 Beseler glass carrier with a 5X7 negative in the lower slot of the head. I then had a plastic company (they're all over the place) make a black square with an appropriate rectangular cut out and that goes in the slot above the glass carrier so that there isn't a ton of light spilling around the 5X7 negative. This works very well for me, and believe me I thought I hated the idea of a glass carrier before I tried it. If I need VC filtration I put an Ilford sheet of material above the black plastic.

I realize I'm not answering your question, but if you think glass carriers are terrible I am encouraging you to try it. You may be surpised.

[John Moye]

I have never seen the 8X10 Beseler glass carrier. Do you mean 8X10 glassless carrier, or are you talking about the Beseler 8X10 glass/diffused plastic sandwich, that fits into the upper slot? Maybe it's my darkroom, but no matter what I did, when using glass negative carriers. I always got dust spots, & I am not the best at spotting prints, so I avoid spots as much as I can. I have heard, that darkrooms can either be negatively or positively charged, & that one of those really attracts dust. Which every darkroom is charged, it cannot be changed, or so I have been told. So, it just may be, that I have darkroom that attracts dust, so the less surface area there is, the better for me.

[coisasdavida]

I was on the same quest.
I saw some spring loaded glassless carriers on the Glennview website.
I purchased some 3/4" plywood to make a similar one for my Elwood.
When I have a working prototype I can send you a picture and maybe you could work someone similar out.

[Kevin Crisp]

I would use a brush on the glass of the glass Beseler sandwich, then put the negative on and brush off the back of the negative. Often (So. Cal.) it would tend to float around some on the glass due to static but after touching it with the Zone VI or those little radioactive brushes that went away. I've never once had the dust be from the assembly and not something on the negative itself. Once you put the sandwich together no new dust can get in there and you can hold it up to see if it is a problem. Maybe I've just been very lucky; I was expecting dust to be an issue with the glass carrier and it never has been. The plastic has never caused a Newton's ring for me either.

[Curt]

images are of the 5X7glassless negative carrier/holder made by "The Kriser Corp" for 5X7 Elwood enlarger. Click on each image to enlarge. [/attach]

The Zipper glassless carrier is identical in function but has a tapered outer support and it has a handle. They're better than the Beseler Negaflat. They don't leave edge marks from sarrated grippers. I have one. They are rare and hard to find.