Easel descriptions

[whojammyflip]

Hi, I bought a RRB 2 blade easel for printing 12x16 and to my dismay, although the base board is 12x16, the blades will crop the photo so that the exposed area is only 10x12. Does this mean I have a 10x12 easel? Have I been taken for a ride here?! Luckily, my GAS means I have also bought a borderless Kaiser 12x16 easel which will definitely cover the print size, albeit without boarders. Thanks.

 

[AgX]

I would expect exactly this.
For any easel I'd expect the nomimal size to be given for the paper-size to be fixed. With a glass-plate easel the useful size would be identical to the paper size, for an easel with blases I'd expect the blades to reduce the useful size.
This concept of designation is especially usefull with easels in mind where one can switch between blades and glass-plate.


But I see your point.

 

[whojammyflip]

Well I live and learn, thanks for the reply. The irony is that my enlarger has a vertical column, which means that these large RRB easel blades and borders would force a reduction to the "useful size" to a landscape height of 10 inches or 25cm, even if I had intended on using a larger RRB easel, so the "12x16" is the maximum I can use on my enlarger. Luckily I have this Kaiser easel still, as I had been thinking of consolidating my darkroom kit a bit and getting rid of this. Now the question is whether any of my recent Bronica photos deserve to be printed at 12x16!

 

[AgX]

In case you are mechanically inclined you might consider setting the enlarger head more apart from the collumn be mounting a kind of rod between them.

 

[whojammyflip]

I might just fire up a Meopta which is sitting in the garage and try that. Its got an angled column. However, it only does 35mm. I suppose I could keep an eye out for an Opemus 6, but at some point my wife is going to lose her rag.

 

[AgX]

Concerning those easels: Yes, it would be a good idea if the manufacturers (there are not that many left) indicate:

-) the largest paper size that can be held in position

-) the largest image size that can be obtained when using blades


Especially constructions where the blades cannot be shoven above/beneath the frame yield and Image size that is much smaller that the base of the easel.

 

[whojammyflip]

of course, there is a way to print bordlerless with this, and thats to simply lift up the hinged blades into a vertical position!

 

[AgX]

And how is the paper kept flat then?
I don't know that RRB easel, but I guess even with the two blades flipped up two frame legs will still hold the paper and thus leave at least a small border to be cut off.

There a quite some different approaches to easel construction, that's why I ask.

 

[youngrichard]

And how is the paper kept flat then?
I don't know that RRB easel, but I guess even with the two blades flipped up two frame legs will still hold the paper and thus leave at least a small border to be cut off.

There a quite some different approaches to easel construction, that's why I ask.

I meant to get the quote "How do you get the paper to lay flat?"
The answer is to spray the easel with a re-placeable adhesive such as SprayMount. I have been using it for years.
Richard

 

[Chan Tran]

Hi, I bought a RRB 2 blade easel for printing 12x16 and to my dismay, although the base board is 12x16, the blades will crop the photo so that the exposed area is only 10x12. Does this mean I have a 10x12 easel? Have I been taken for a ride here?! Luckily, my GAS means I have also bought a borderless Kaiser 12x16 easel which will definitely cover the print size, albeit without boarders. Thanks.

I think you have a 10x12 easel.

 

[whojammyflip]

I think you have a 10x12 easel.

Thanks for this.

To keep the paper flat, I just make sure that the paper is flat in the box. I am one of the believers in the Barry Thornton depth of field at the base board. I guess, however, that resolution is lost if the paper is not lying in the precise plane of focus, but that the loss is acceptable...hence printing with borderless easels is possible.

 

[pentaxuser]

It's a bit late in the OP's case now but I have seldom seen a RRB two blade easel correctly described on the U.K. e-bay in terms of its max print size. At times I'd swear that the sellers can't be familiar with the easels when they fail to notice how confusingly they have described the easel's size.

It is always worth asking the specific question about max print size then you have comeback if it arrives and doesn't comply with the answer to the question

It seems from this thread that it isn't just the U.K. e-bay that has the problem.

pentaxuser

 

[AgX]

As indicated above at least the two german manufactures are ambiguous concerning sizes too. I would describe an easel by the maximal sheet size it can take, but of course this is only part of the story.

 

[MattKing]

The Saunders 4 blade easels are confusing for a good reason.

The model (that I have) that has blades that can be opened to accommodate an 11 x 14 print, allows me to remove the blade assembly. When I do, I am left with a non-adjustable, 14 x 17 easel.

I prefer to describe it as an 11 x 14 easel, but understand why Saunders calls it a 14 x 17 easel.