"Contact Copy Box"

[Erik Petersson]

I found an ad for a "contact copy box" (bad translation into English) on the local auction site. A box for making contact copies, up to 9x12 in this case. Are such boxes convenient? It would be great to use with my 6x9 folder.

Here is the link to the auction, but do not outbid me now, please!

http://www.tradera.com/Kontaktkopieringsapparat-AMATO-upp-till-9x12-cm-auktion_302628_115099900

 

[MattKing]

That looks a lot like the contact printer that I started out with 40+ years ago .

I used it with 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" negatives.

The only problem you might have, is that if it is like mine, it will be designed for the relatively slow contact printing papers, rather than the current papers which are mostly quite a bit more sensitive.

 

[Mike Wilde]

I used a 4x5" model for doing contact print of 4x5 negs in advance of finding a 4x5 enlarger for the right money.

They usually don't do variable light colour, so VC papers are around #2 grade.

Older 'contact papers' were silver chloride, and needed a lot more exposure, so expect to introduce ND or lower wattage sources (or like me, wire the two bulbs in series as well) for modern silver bromide to get reasonable and manageable exposure times.

Some proofers had multiple bulbs, and banks of switches to control them so you could of sorts do a dodge and burn at the same time you made a contact print. I have only seen one first hand once, an 8x10 with at least 30 lamps and the thought of keeping it in bulbs kept me clear of buying it.

 

[Erik Petersson]

I will need a dark room of course to load it, is that right? The darkest place in my apartment is a changing bag.

 

[MattKing]

I will need a dark room of course to load it, is that right? The darkest place in my apartment is a changing bag.

Yes, you need to use it in a darkroom.

It is like a contact printing frame, with built in light source. You sandwich the negative and paper, expose the paper, and then develop the paper in the usual way.

 

[Erik Petersson]

I should have guessed that. Thanks for your help. In Sweden, apartments are not built to contain dark places.

 

[fotch]

Handy if your going to do a lot of contact printing, however, almost as easy to make contact prints using a contact printing frame, or a piece of glass, on the enlarger baseboard, and have all the controls that the enlarger has. Controls like the amount of light produced via iris of the lens and or enlarger head height, VC filters for contrast, even burning and dodging if you wanted.

 

[fschifano]

Same here. I started out with something similar over 40 years ago. I still have the device, but don't have any use for it. Contact speed papers aren't easy to find any more, and this thing is too bright for enlarging speed papers. There's no provision for contrast control via filters, so you'd need to rig something up for that too. When I want to make a contact print, I simply use my enlarger as the light source.

 

[fotch]

Actually, I was thinking of getting one just for fun. A nostalgic trip back to my beginning in the darkroom. Might be handy for the medium to large format 4x5 for a quick print. Did not even think about paper speeds and the problems with using enlarging paper.

Whew, save me a bunch of money. I was looking to get one of the better, professional contact boxes rather than the elcheapo tin box of my youth.