16x20 Enlargement

Well, I tried my first 16 x 20 enlargement. Thanks to APUG for giving me great ideas for a home made easel.

One thing I have discovered is my Kodak 162 mm enlarging lens seems to have some optical dstortion, I think. One corner of the image seems to stretch out.

Is this normal for an enlarging lens or is it more likely to be the flatness of the easel? It is a subtle amount, about 1/64 to 1/32 of an inch on a 16x20 image.

The good news is the positive reaction to the larger print. It was from a 4x5 negative (Tmax) and Ilford MGIV Satin. Most novice viewers were surprised with the extra detail they could see. Most did not notice the distortion in the corner.

Only one corner? Sounds like your home made easel is a little warped. Alternately, the enlarger may be slightly misaligned. If the misalignment is slight, the distortion won't show up very much on a smaller print.

Try turning the lens 180 degrees. If the distortion follows the lens rotation, then it probably is lens related. If not, someting else is the cause.

Or flatness of the neg.

I rotated the negative and the effect stayed in the same place. I tried another neg carrier and the funny corner went away. A quick check with a combination square shows the negative carrier was probably stamped and is a bit flared in the corner.