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Enlarging Question - 20x24 paper.

rwboyer

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Oct 16, 2009
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MD USA
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Medium Format
I am sort of an anal darkroom worker in that I don't do a whole lot unless I have all the right "stuff" to do it. Hence I theoretically know how to enlarge onto 20x24 paper without an easel that can handle that size paper but...

I was looking for people's experience that use paper sizes that are bigger than their largest easel. What have you found to be the best way? I want to try a few negatives on really big paper and do not want to invest in an easel nor do I want to burn through 24x20 paper just to see.

What is your way?

RB
 
I used to use a metal board and magnetic strips, but now days I dont print over 11x14 and thats rarely, mostly 7x10 and 8x8 any more.
 
Just found a cardboard easel I made for 24"x20" paper about 16 years ago, I cut matt board to make a masking frame and blacked the edges, it worked perfectly, I used some wood strips to keep it flat during exposures etc.

Ian
 
Ian Grant said:
Just found a cardboard easel I made for 24"x20" paper about 16 years ago, I cut matt board to make a masking frame and blacked the edges, it worked perfectly, I used some wood strips to keep it flat during exposures etc.

Ian
Click to expand...

This sounds like something I would be comfortable with - regular card board or matte board? Thick or standard stuff?

RB
 
Easels for smaller prints not only hold the paper, they also enhance presentation by the capcity to provide an even white border. When it comes to very large paper sizes, I think the even border is not essential. Perhaps the large print will be framed or matted, so the edge won't be showing, or the edges will be trimmed. In that case anything that holds the paper flat can be used. Commerical solutions are vacuum or magnetic baseboards or walls. Home-made solutions would be tape or thumbtacks or metal bars.
 
tape it down! it's easy and expedient. I make 'L's out of tape to indicate the corners to 'seat' the print - then tape down the edges, overlapping maybe a few mm's at most in several places - works great - even with double weight paper..
 
What tape do you use that won't rip the gelatin layer off? Blue low-tack painter's tape?
 
Yes - that's a good one... though if you're only overlapping the paper by a hair or two... something more like super strong gaffer's tape is better. I'd only use scotch blue or green tape when I've got full contact with a film or paper surface for whatever reason...
 
rwboyer said:
This sounds like something I would be comfortable with - regular card board or matte board? Thick or standard stuff?

RB
Click to expand...

I just used regular Matte board, but thicker board would be better as long as you can cut good clean straight edges, I then sprayed the edges with mat black paint.

Ian
 
rwboyer said:
Thank you so much people - any tips for parallel alignment with a wall?

RB
Click to expand...

I use my laser to align to the wall. But at large magnification the lens-to-negative alighnment is the critical value. The alignment to the wall is less important, there is a lot of leeway. You can test this. Project a 4 foot x 4 foot image toward the wall. Hold a white card out and move it back and forth. You will see that you have to move it quite far to go out of focus.
 

Thanks - I did understand this - sort of the same as a near subject and a far subject etc. I am just a perfectionist. I guess I will do it manually with my grain microscope just to be "sure".

RB
 
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