Crap, my easel is too big

mesaboogie said:

I picked up a Saunders VT1400 from a school clearing out their darkroom equipment. I haven't tested it at 8x10 or 11x14, but with the 5x7 I cannot get it into position under my Beseler 23c I bought. I really wanted to do various small prints.

So I guess I have a multi part question since I like tools in my tool kit...
What's the best/versatile easel for 8x10 and 5x7? And is there a speed easel for 5x7 that masks to 4x6?

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darkroommike said:

Use the upper right or left corner of your easel and adjust the masking blades assymetrically to mask your 5x7's, no need to center the easel for smaller prints.

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MattKing said:

Use the 8x10 channel in the Saunders easel for your 5x7 paper - it should work fine.

To make it easy to set the blades, take a 5x7 sheet, draw lines on it where you want the margins to be, put it into the 8x10 channel and then move the blades to line up with your drawn in margins. Then record those settings or mark them on the scales with a felt pen.

You may find it helpful to use longer lenses on the enlarger. That will let you have the head higher up, which will make it easier to fully open the easel.

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