cutting negs with transparant picture edges

[Quinten]

How do you properly cut negs with transparent edges in the frame? I shot some portraits with black backgounds so I couldn't see the edges of the frames while cutting the negs. I thought it wouldn't really matter since the parts between the frames are just the same, though under the enlarger it's a bit different....

I hope there is an easy trick since measuring and cutting a 36 frame neg will be at least a challange.

cheers!

 

[agGNOME]

Hi,
Try to find at least one image where the edges of the frame are defined. If you have at least one then the rest is easy....each 35mm frame is exactly 8 sprocket holes so count backward or forward from the frame you defined. If this at all confusing , look at some 35mm negatives that have already been cut and it'll be easy to understand. -Cameron

 

[pentaxuser]

Hi,
Try to find at least one image where the edges of the frame are defined. If you have at least one then the rest is easy....each 35mm frame is exactly 8 sprocket holes so count backward or forward from the frame you defined. If this at all confusing , look at some 35mm negatives that have already been cut and it'll be easy to understand. -Cameron

The starter thread has identified what I have always found to be a real problem. On a college course there was no instruments available other than a scissors to cut between the negs - not easy as the clear gap is tiny.

Once I set up my own darkroom, the secondhand kit I bought included a neg cutter which I think was designed for making transparencies. It has a guide and a light underneath the film which lights up when you lift a mini guillotine. You then place the clear part underneath the guillotine and chop.

However even with this instrument it is difficult to judge the exact middle of the clear space and I still manage too much clear space on one and practically nothing on the next at times.

The 8 sprocket rule might help but there is still an element of hand and eye co-ordination required.

Of course there may be better instruments than mine which improves accuracy.It might be worthwhile for the thread's originator to look for a secondhand transparency cutter. You'd certainly need one if you develop and frame transparencies.

Pentaxuser

 

[Lee L]

One trick astrophotographers sometimes use (especially for labs that need some clue) is to shoot an occasional frame that shows content to the edges and can serve to define a starting point for cutting.

Lee

 

[Quinten]

Roll film is even worse, sometimes it's only 3mm between two frames, and the space varies from 3mm to about 7. Actually this is a reason why I sometimes avoid black background when it isn't that important. How do the people who do this right do this? It's a shame to gues wrong with your best shot of the night.

 

[Andy K]

Use a strip of negs from another roll. Place them against the roll you are trying to cut.

 

[David Henderson]

Is this a problem that needs solving? I have Bronica backs that have done this for years without ever seeming to get worse or overlap frames, and indeed I've put it down more to variations in winding on speed than to a camera fault.

I use transparency film, but I use a single slide mount to identify the edge of the frame when I have black at top or bottom. I'm sure the same would work on negs.