Contact printing frame question

KEK · Sep 13, 2005

Hi, I've recently taken the plunge into LF ( 5 x 7 ) and I'm looking for a way to use 8 x 10 paper and get a white border around the print in an 8 x 10 frame.

Dan Pelland had some suggestions.

coat my own paper

have a 5 x 7 frame made

get the 8 x 10 frame because I'll be moving to 8 x 10 format sooner than I think.

Good suggestions but at the moment probably won't work for me.

Thanks for any help

Kevin

Donald Miller · Sep 13, 2005

If you want to have a white border on 8x10 paper then you would need the ability to contact print 8X10...if you want to use a printing frame then that would indicate an 8X10 printing frame.

If I were trying what you want then I would make a mask out of black poster board or a fully exposed sheet of 8X10 film with a window for your 5X7 negative. The procedure would be to put the mask onto the glass of the frame and your negative into the window of the poster board or 8X10 film. Next lay the 8X10 paper emulsion side down followed by the tension back. Turn over the printing frame and expose...

John_Brewer · Sep 13, 2005

Kevin, get a 12 x 16 frame. You will save money when you start contact printing larger negs. No, really you will want too. Not convinced, thats OK, get a 12 x 16 frame and you can then print two 5 x 7 negs saving you time

When I mask I do as Donald indicates using thin red card. The stuff I use is pretty much the same thickness as my negs and gives a sharp edge and is cheap.

J

KEK · Sep 13, 2005

John I'm not familiar with thin red card, where can I get that ?

Thanks Kevin

John_Brewer · Sep 13, 2005

KEK said:
John I'm not familiar with thin red card, where can I get that ?

Thanks Kevin

It's nothing special, check out whats available a your local art/stationery suppliers. I pay £1 (less than $1 US) or so for a size A1 sheet.

J

matt miller · Sep 13, 2005

I use rubylith to cut masks for white borders when I contact print. You can get a couple sheets cheap here: http://www.scopestuff.com/ss_redm1.htm

John is right about the 12x16 frame too. Bostick & Sullivan have a nice one.

dphphoto · Sep 15, 2005

Hi: you can cut a mask out of exposed and developed lith film, or even from an exposed and developed piece of b&w neg film. But rubylith is probably the cheapest way to go. Dean

Thomas Bertilsson · Sep 10, 2008

I'm digging up a very old topic here, but would the black plastic bags that photo paper is stored in work to cut a mask from? I would think it's opaque? I guess I can try and see, but was wondering if anybody had used other materials other than 8x10 fully exposed film, or rubylith film.

I have recently started using a 5x7 Century, and some negs I wish to crop. So far I've been printing lith, so sharpness is not really a factor with the results I'm after. But if I wanted to make regular prints, or platinum some day, I'd need that pressure from the contact printing frame to assure proper sharpness.
Now I just crop the negative in the enlarging easel and don't even use a contact printing frame. So far so good.

- Thomas

PVia · Sep 10, 2008

Use black cardstock...works great when contact printing my 4x5 negs on 8x10.

David A. Goldfarb · Sep 10, 2008

The black plastic is opaque, but it's not easy to cut straight.

Jim Noel · Sep 10, 2008

The old standby is Rubylith. Totally exposed and developed film often passes just enough light to fog the borders. Cardboard works, but does not give the really smooth edge of rubylith.

Thomas Bertilsson · Sep 10, 2008

Are you referring to mat board? Please educate the uneducated...
Basically, what it boils down to is: How do you make sure the contact between the emulsions is good?

- Thomas

PVia said:
Use black cardstock...works great when contact printing my 4x5 negs on 8x10.

Thomas Bertilsson · Sep 10, 2008

I wonder if one can take two pieces of rubylith, cut into an L-shape, and crop as you wish by overlapping them, while using a large contact printing frame.
That way I wouldn't have to make an individual cut in Rubylith every time I want to crop something.

How thick is it?

- Thomas

Jim Noel said:
The old standby is Rubylith. Totally exposed and developed film often passes just enough light to fog the borders. Cardboard works, but does not give the really smooth edge of rubylith.

KEK · Sep 10, 2008

Thomas I ended up with black construction paper(the kind school kids use for projects) its very thin and i can get straight cuts using my matt cutter.

Contact printing frame question

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