7x10 on 8x10 paper?

[bvy]

Is anyone printing 35mm as 7x10 on 8x10 paper? -- that is, the whole width of the paper with a half inch border top and bottom. It's an odd size, and I know it rules out 8x10 frames (which I don't use). The print would have to be matted. Just curious...

 

[Sirius Glass]

That is about the best that you can do. 6x6, 6x7, and 4"x5" fit 8"x10" paper a whole lot better. That is just one annoyance of working with 35mm film.

 

[Gerald C Koch]

The photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, who used Leicas exclusively, always insisted that his photographs be printed full frame without any cropping. At one time there was a fashion, thankfully déclassé now, where the enlarger mask was filed out a bit. The full frame prints had a slim and very ragged black border around them because of this. This was to prove to the viewer that no cropping had been performed.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, who used Leicas exclusively, always insisted that his photographs be printed full frame without any cropping. At one time there was a fashion, thankfully déclassé now, where the enlarger mask was filed out a bit. The full frame prints had a slim and very ragged black border around them because of this. This was to prove to the viewer that no cropping had been performed.

I never liked it.

 

[Roger Cole]

I don't see why you couldn't still use an 8x10 frame. There would be some white border showing top and bottom but that would be ok with me. I've seen such framed prints and they can look fine.

I print each image the way I think it looks best. If that's full frame I print it that way. If it's cropped, I cheerfully crop. I see cropping as just another creative control. I print some of my 6x6 negatives square and crop others to rectangles, for example. Some people prefer to never crop, of course, and that's fine too. Do what suits you.

 

[George Nova Scotia]

There are some Speed Easels out there designed with wide top & bottom borders to match 35mm full frame. Most 4 blade easels can be set to work as well, maybe a little paper to blank out the edges if the blades are too narrow. I used the Speed Easel a lot in the '70s & 80's.

 

[Rick A]

With what little 35mm I shoot, I generally print full 8x10. Occasionally, I cut an 11x14 in half and print 7x11 for a pano effect.

 

[Neal]

Dear bvy,

Small borders on each edge give the mat something to sit on and gives me some room to deal with my mat cutting errors.

Neal Wydra

 

[bvy]

Thanks everyone. I discovered yesterday that I have one of these easels -- it's a Unicolor 8x10 combination easel that does 7x10 on the backside. My darkroom is cramped, and I like the small size of this easel -- also the fact that I don't have to deal with blades or masks. I'm not in the habit of printing every image differently. I never crop for composition (and, in fact, if I had that filed down negative carrier, I'd be tempted to use it). This suits me insofar as it gives me a slightly larger image than the 6x9 I've been printing and still (mostly) keeps the 3:2 format. Maybe I'm being fussy, but I don't like 8x10 except maybe for portraits -- and I do most of that work with medium format (square).

Sure, the answer is always "do what suits you." But if I ever decide to sell prints (or, more realistically, if someone decides they want to buy them) will I wish I had put a full border around the image or used a more conventional sized frame?

 

[David Brown]

A print around that size should be matted to 11x14. Frame problem solved.

 

[bsdunek]

A print around that size should be matted to 11x14. Frame problem solved.

Agree! I hardly ever match the film format to the final picture format. I do what looks best, and usually, the way I visualized the photo in the first place. I always mat and frame to a larger size, and, I never mat symmetrically. That's why I never use pre-cut mats - always cut my own.

Remember, you are the boss. Do things the way you think best - otherwise you may as well go purchase some pictures at Wal-Mart and look like everybody else.

 

[samisameng]

like David said - A print around that size should be matted to 11x14. Frame problem solved.

 

[lloydapug]

Try working single-tray.

One shiny new 20x24 (inch) tray is way too expensive I admit, but it allows much more convenient darkroom work with no fiddle of any kind, including the cleanup of the usual long line of trays. Handled in a tray, a wet print need not be touched by anything at all except processing solutions. There's no need to pick it up by one corner and lift it up in the air and swing it around into ... another tray?

I have an article I wrote about my descent into one tray FB print processing. It's on my website under the 'technical' button on the table of contents.

--le
heylloyd.com