I bought glass to make sure my MF film is kept flat in the enlarger. One of them is anti-newton glass. Is it really possible to print sharp pictures with this? I mean, when you look through it everything is blurred? Does it matter if the AN-glass is above or below the negative?
The AN glass should be placed against the base (shiney) side of the film, with the emulsion facing conventional glass. In an enarger, that would place the AN glass on top, then the neg with the emulsion facing down, and then the regular (optically clear) glass on the bottom.
Hello Christian, You can print sharp pictures provided the AN glass is fitted above the negative. Regards Hans
When I used Pan F years ago, I had an instance (several instances actually) where I was getting newton-rings on the emulsion side of the film, such was the fineness of the grain. Anyway, I used an AN glass top and bottom with the nagging feeling that I would get some kind of interference pattern or similar in the print. But not a bit of it! The final print was as sharp as using an AN glass on the top only! This is still the system I use todayand I don't feel there are any sharpness issues with my prints.
I have found that with a good negative carrier just a single piece of glass taped above the negative gives results indistinquishable from using glass both top and bottom.
I have an AN glass on top in my Durst Sirioneg carrier. I tried using plain glass below, but that gives me Newton rings. I also tried AN glass, but the pattern shows up in the prints. Ended up with no glass below. It's still sharp.
Thanks for all the answers. I'll probably just use one AN-glass above the film - two less surfaces to keep clean. I did suspect it wouldn't cause blurry images if placed above the neg. After all the lens "reads" the film and what happends above the film is not really important.. but then again the difference between a condensor and diffusor is above the negative and that does have an effect.
Christian, one of the things I use in my darkroom is sticky tape, to hold MF negs flat across the film hole. If I'm only doing moderate enlargements (10 to 15 times the size of the neg) then I find that is sufficient. If I'm going to do really big enlargements, then over the years I've found I really do need to use glass on both sides and ensure that the neg is perfectly aligned with the baseboard/easel. Otherwise it is extremely hard to get the whole image sharp. Actually the tape I use is called, removable magic tape. It is the same stuff as used on post it notes. It's also very handy for removing bits of dust from negatives without damaging the emulsion. Mick.
I have a Durst M670 enlarger and I always use the antinewton glass when printing. It keeps the film flat and I have no patterns in my prints.It is the AN glass made by Durst for that enlarger.
Hi you, I would like to know if I can use only the upper AN glass, evoiding the lower normal glass, because I still find on this last one some scratches every time I use it. The only upper AN glass is enough to evoid the film distortions due to the light heat concentration ?
The negative usually pops upwards as the enlarger head warms it up, so one glass on the top is usually enough. However, if the film base is soft (and thin), you will get slight bending of film downward due to the gravity. This is the reason I am switching to T-Max, which is stiffer than Fuji Acros... However, if you place the negative into carrier turning the carrier upside down (so the AN glass is at the bottom), putting the film into the carrier and closing the carrier in this position, the film will be kept by the carrier in considerably flatter position than if you just put it in in usual way. Even soft film base will be fine this way (of course this all depends on the way the carrier presses on the film when you close it, so this may vary from enlarger to enlarger). Joseph
