Dumb question. 4x5 Glass Negative Carrier for All formats?

I have a 4x5 glass negative carrier. Can I use this for my medium format negatives also? Or should I be masking the carrier for some reason?

You can make it work, just cut a mask out of any thin opaque material to mask it. That prevents unnecessary light scatter.

I use black masking tape on the upper glass to mask off the unused area of my 4x5 glass carrier. You can make any size needed for the film format you are using.

clineco said:

I have a 4x5 glass negative carrier. Can I use this for my medium format negatives also? Or should I be masking the carrier for some reason?

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Yes. I got in the habit of using the largest glass carrier when I got my 4x5 and 8x10 enlargers. Those models only ever came with one size glass carrier and use light masks and smaller mixing boxes for the smaller formats.

Here is an extreme example. A black plastic mask held in place over the top glass to enlarge MINOX with my 4x5 enlarger. This works very well. The actual MINOX glassless holder for his enlarger is no good because Minox film has to be held flat to the micrometer and this is only possible with glass.

Great. Thanks for all the info. So what are the adverse affects of not using a mask? Fogged prints?

clineco said:

So what are the adverse affects of not using a mask? Fogged prints?

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There is more of a problem with contrast, but fogging is possible.

Even with clean multilayer coated enlarging lenses, contrast will suffer. It is easy to test.

Depending on the design you might also find that a long 'tail' of 120 or 135 film sticking out of the neg carrier gets in the way of the frame/mount/edges of the carrier (as it is made to have just the 4x5 neg between the glasses, in the middle).

I will be making a 135/120 carrier for a big 10x15cm Magnitarus for this same reason. Anything which fits between the glasses is fine, with masking, (currently 4x5" and individual 6x9cm) but the glasses are recessed in to the main part of the neg-carrier so nothing can 'stick out the side'. Not a problem when I eventually get some more 3mm plywood (famous last words).

Edit: Yes, you certainly should mask out the light that isn't going through the negative. The whole darkroom would light up!

I use small sheets of aluminum(?) that I get at Lowe's or Home Depot in the roofing area. They are even painted black on one side. They are thin enough to cut with scissors or a sharp knife and thin enough not to cause any hangups when inserted into my Saunders 4550.