Contact printing frame question

[KEK]

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]

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]

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]

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

Thanks Kevin

 

[John_Brewer]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

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

 

[Jim Noel]

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]

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

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

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

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

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]

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.