Somewhat related question: If I wanted to print 8x10 with the fill film border included, which I usually do, do most 8x10 enlargers allow this? Or do you specifically have to step up to 10x10?
Somewhat related question: If I wanted to print 8x10 with the fill film border included, which I usually do, do most 8x10 enlargers allow this? Or do you specifically have to step up to 10x10?
My little story on the film rebate. I was in art school when the Avedon book came out with the 8x10 prints showing the rebate. I remember saying to my friends, 'some day I'll shoot 8x10, but only if I have some way to enlarge it like the Avedon prints. '
Fast forward 30 years and I got a top of the line 10x10 Durst, but the glass carrier is only just 10" across. Almost no room to show the rebate. I couldn't believe Avedon's team struggled with micro-precision to get that whole rebate. Then I saw the enlarger he used. It was one-size bigger. It seems that is the case with just about any film format; to show the rebate easily you need an enlarger one-size bigger.
Having posted that above, here is a photograph of a 11x14 print from 8x10 negative. It took maybe 15 minutes of fiddling just to get that border making the print. With image size changes during focusing, and getting the blades to just crop the edges cleanly and getting it all centered. Yes, I did it, but I can't see doing that for every print. Maybe it does not bother you but the actual film edge is NOT included in my print. I am forced to cropping into the rebate on the 10" side, and therefore cropping into the rebate on top and bottom to try to make it even. So without seeing the film edge, getting the black border even on all 4 sides is very difficult. As you can see it is not even all around.
Ugh, so annoying! Well at least I’d be able to easily do it with 57 and 45.
Many years later after first seeing Avedon's work, and getting my own 8x10 enarger, I read this:
Of course Ruedi Hofmann would know, but the black borders on his print look too perfect to be the actual rebate from the snake handler negative.Negatives also required work, either with re- touching, to block off the background so that it would remain white, or with [printing] masks, to give cropped images the black border that was Avedon’s signature. --- The Making of In the American West
Article in Journal of the American Institute for Conservation · December 2008 DOI: 10.1179/019713608804539574
I will say however that my black border obsession is kind of a crutch. I really should get over it. With the exception of some old school folks a la Avedon, none of my current favorite photographers print that way. Plus the border is not worth throwing out a winning image because I flubbed the horizon line slightly.
So lets just say you are willing to drive a thousand miles away for a DeVere 8x10. Where do you find them. I can't find any on ebay or craigslist.
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