1. Yes be worried if you are putting the two glasses together, if you are using the neg carrier there is space for this so no problem.
2. Minor scratches do come into play and cause problems
3.good question---- you will need black electrical tape and a light box-**Also the proper glass carrier that can be mounted back in the same position each time.***
Place your easel blades to the correct size you want to print, lets say 12x18 for a 35mm neg. Make sure you are using a deveere carrier with glass.
Put a single negative into the center of the carrier.
Drop the front bellows so you see a circle on the easel and make the blades position perfectly corner to corner within the circle. This tells you the easel is centered to the enlarger.
Put the glass carrier into place ,Focus and see where the negative lands, if it is not perfect within the blades of the easel, take the carrier out and move the negative until it is perfect, you will need scotch tape to do this, once you have the negative in perfect position, take out the carrier , turn it upside down on the lightbox and put black electrical tape around the image , effectively blocking all the light around** which is a good thing***.
This will give you a template for all future work, moving the easal always causes problems like soft edges and vignetting, this procedure minimizes this.
From here on all you have to do is place the new neg into the template , lock the negative carrier in place and voila, the whole shebang is centered.
I have 8 carriers with glass for this very purpose for 4x5 enlargers.
3 35 mm set ups, 2 - 6x6 2-2x7 2- 6x9 which pretty much sums up the bulk of sizes I print with mf and 35.
Hope this makes sense, a lot of info but a very good method for repeatable positioning of negatives into your enlarger.
If you are in a public darkroom then I would purchase your own carrier and bring it each time.
4- Using glass carriers are difficult at first and then become a life saver. You focus once, you have flat film to align your enlarger.
Focal Point in Florida is my source and they are very good, and helpful.
hi fellows, i have just started to use the glass neg mask on the de vere 504. anti newton on top plain on bottom.first two prints from 35mm last night look good, no dust either, result. however i need some advice on several points.
1. should i be so worried about scratching the glass, is it ok to close them together with no neg or tissue paper between?
2. do minor scatches come into focus anyway?
3. how can i center the neg acurately, i dont want to stray too far into the edge of the lens image circle.
4. and thats just what i know i dont know, so please enlighten me to the virtues of the glass.
thanks for any help.
