Can I file my negative carrier?

scinysnaps · Dec 17, 2009

I am using a Durst 605 with the glass less carriers.
Basically I want to see the edge of the film ( black lines ) on my print.
I was thinking of filing the hole so that the film edge becomes visible as currently it is not.
Does anyone have any ideas?

removed account4 · Dec 17, 2009

hi ,

i have a durst as well, but a different model.
mine has glass inserts that can be removed ( and cost a small fortune! )
make sure your filing won't change the way your glass sits in the carrier.

good luck -
john

Ian Grant · Dec 17, 2009

jnanian said:
mine has glass inserts that can be removed ( and cost a small fortune! )

John, it's quite easy to make your own new glass inserts. I prefer the plain glass type and made a few sets about 30 years ago, you smooth then bevel the edges using coarse wet & dry (wet), I think I made mine from old fogged FP4 half plates.

Ian

doughowk · Dec 17, 2009

You'll be adding non image forming light onto your print which will reduce contrast ( see Richard Henry's "controls for B&W). But it does add a certain style to your prints. For 120mm I sometimes use a 4X5 glass carrier in my Durst, and block down to the edges.

Vaughn · Dec 17, 2009

I have filed glass-less neg carriers for Omega D5's for both 35mm and 120 film for printing all the image, I have also used a jeweler's saw and file to enlarge 35mm holders so that they can print two or three 35mm negs at one time. Just takes a little time.

Vaughn

scinysnaps · Dec 17, 2009

Great, I am not that keen on glass because I want that rough soft edge black film border. If I use glass, I will get the whole film edge and masking it off will leave a hard edge

Mike Wilde · Dec 17, 2009

Consider making up secondary neg holders out of 4 ply matte board, before you permanently alter a neg carreir.

make it black where requried with applcation of a pernanent marker. I have a whole bunch for my Omage B size chassis- for 126, for 110, for 6x45, 6x9, etc. as well as one that shows sproket holes, and just the edge of the image area. You can cut and shave them quite precisely with a sharp x-acto blade.

Ronald Moravec · Dec 17, 2009

The bigger the hole, the more flatness suffers.

I would get a glass carrier for the next bigger size and tape off the non image area.

Another solution is to file out the bottom the way you want, then file the top to accept the AN half of a glass slide mount, just the glass. This is a fair amount of precise metal removalbecause the glass has to fit perfectly. I did it with Omega carriers. Now I see the borders outside the image areas, but it is hard to line up on an easel. Cut some scrap negs and you will understand. My urppose was to make a glass one side carrier which Omega never made. Works fine for that.

Vaughn · Dec 17, 2009

If you have more than one camera in a particular format, you may need to have more than one filed out neg carrier in the format -- a couple days ago, a student and I were noticing the slight difference in image area between two MF cameras (Bronica and Rolleiflex, I believe).

Vaughn

scinysnaps · Dec 18, 2009

noted, thanks guys

jmal · Dec 20, 2009

It's always safer to burn in black borders. You can easily ruin a carrier by filing it. I burned in the borders for a couple of years before I actually felt that I wanted to file my carrier, and when I finally did so, it was a mistake. I never liked the way it looked. I ended up buying a replacement carrier. The funny thing is that I no longer even like black borders. They grew tiresome for me, but each person must arrive at his own aesthetic, and this often takes time and experimenting. Your thoughts may differ.

Roger Thoms · Dec 20, 2009

Mike Wilde said:
Consider making up secondary neg holders out of 4 ply matte board, before you permanently alter a neg carreir.

make it black where requried with applcation of a pernanent marker. I have a whole bunch for my Omage B size chassis- for 126, for 110, for 6x45, 6x9, etc. as well as one that shows sproket holes, and just the edge of the image area. You can cut and shave them quite precisely with a sharp x-acto blade.

This is a great idea, I sometimes print a Rayko in San Francisco and all the negative carriers in the group darkroom are made from 4 ply mat board. They carriers work just fine.

And to answer your question, yes absolutely, people have been filing negative carriers for years.

Roger

Sirius Glass · Dec 20, 2009

rtbadman said:
This is a great idea, I sometimes print a Rayko in San Francisco and all the negative carriers in the group darkroom are made from 4 ply mat board. They carriers work just fine.

And to answer your question, yes absolutely, people have been filing negative carriers for years.

Roger

That alone does not make it a good idea. After all if all your friends became celibate, you become celibate?

removed account4 · Dec 20, 2009

Ian Grant said:
John, it's quite easy to make your own new glass inserts. I prefer the plain glass type and made a few sets about 30 years ago, you smooth then bevel the edges using coarse wet & dry (wet), I think I made mine from old fogged FP4 half plates.

Ian

yeah, that sounds like a good thing to do.

i wish i could have read your words in a thread in a forum like this
back in 94

the inserts arrived to me at the store ( the only durst dealers in boston )
chipped / broken and the clerk tried to refuse replacing them for me ...

it was a huge hassle ...

john

removed account4 · Dec 20, 2009

you can also take your film and sandwich it between 2 sheets of glass and put this
in the enlarger head instead of your negative carrier. you can make a mask any size you want to go
around the film, ragged edge, smooth edge &C.
get a sheet of black plastic or canvas and tape it to the head around where the negative carrier would have seated
the light won't spill out onto your paper and you will get the funky border you are looking for without
filing down your carrier ( if you wanted to have a un-filed edge in another printing session ...

john

scinysnaps · Dec 29, 2009

Thanks guys for all the great ideas, I finally managed to get what I wanted by using the larger hole template on the bottom, and the glass on top. So, NO filling necessary.. PHEW

Janos · Jan 2, 2010

Go for it, but don't over- enlarge the aperture. We're talking fractions of millimetres here, as not all negs shot with the same camera will be exactly the same size. Why? Because different focal lengths project wider or narrower at the gate, as you can imagine. With too much clear neg around the image, you can indeed get contrast reduction. I like this effect too though, and it works pretty well if you look out for these sorts of problems. I've found that with a diffusion head, it is necessary to chamfer the aperture also, or you'll get a noticable diminuition of projected brightness all around the edge.
When you've finished filing and sanding, clean thoroughly and take to the edge with a black texta to reduce the reflection from thew bevelled area which can itsself be problematic. Good luck.

Can I file my negative carrier?

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