Easel Types

[David Ruby]

my only experience to date was in a small, poorly outfitted community darkroom. now that i'm building my own, i nead a good easel. i was planning on getting a two blade 11 x 14 to cover most of my work. i've never used a four-blade and can't seem to convince myself that they are better by looking at the pictures of them, but that could be because i don't know how they work. could someone who's used both types give me some opinions? thanks.

 

[Nige]

Biggest problem with two bladed easels IMO is the max size of the borders you can utilise. I have a 11x14 LPL and the border is adjustable between not much and a max of about 20mm (3/4"). I'd like to be able to have a bit bigger borders for handling the print eg holding, signing (lol!), matting. Also consider your max enlargement size. They make a 14x17 version too I think, which would handle 12x16 paper (needed for a 11x14 print with a decent border). If your going to be doing a lot of 8x10 or smaller prints, then an appropiate sized easel is much easier to use (position on the baseboard for cropping, etc). I regularly use a thing called a masking easel (I think that's the generic term) where the borders aren't adjustable at all. It can also be flipped over to print 2 5x7s (or 5x8) on one piece of paper, or 4 4x5's by flipping little windows open and shut.