Getting the negative flat...

moouers · Jan 18, 2010

Hello all. I know this question has been asked before, and almost always the answer given is to use a negative carrier with glass built in. But my humble old enlarger does not have any such beast made for it, so I am without that option. Does anyone have any ideas of how to keep a 35mm negative flat in the carrier so I don't have to work with diffraction from stopping down so far?

MattKing · Jan 18, 2010

Try stretching the negative out using Post-It notes as "tape".

3M also makes tape with the same type of releasable adhesive, ut if you are like me, the Post-It notes are nearby ...

Matt

ic-racer · Jan 18, 2010

If the enlarger will take it, the easiest is to make a glass holder out of two pieces of appropriate glass, taped together to make a hinge.

moouers · Jan 18, 2010

Thank you both. I may try the tape idea first since that's essentially free. Would blue painters tape work?

Jon Shiu · Jan 18, 2010

The blue tape is good. I have also used a cover glass made out of a anti-newton ring glass from a gepe slide mount with the edges sanded smooth.

Jon

tkamiya · Jan 18, 2010

I'm having hard time believing 35mm film and small opening of carrier can allow so much curling that can actually be seen in prints. When my film curl badly, I just put them in between pages of heavy books and let them sit overnight. It has been working just fine for me.

I usually print from f/5.6 to f/11 and to 8x10 size with some cropping. I've never seen problems from film curling.

Mike Wilde · Jan 18, 2010

I find the curl gets worst around now, mid winter for me. The RH in the house is down around 30%, and I am about to haul out the humidifier for its mid January to mid March run.

I think the low humidity allows the outer layer of gel to dry faster, and that somehow gets the curn up worse than in the summer. Even all of last week under a stack of encyclopedias have not tamed mine.

My most recent paid job was for scanned output, and the proceeds of it have gone striaght back into orderign anti newton ring galss for the scanner film carrier.

Neal · Jan 19, 2010

Dear moouers,

Have you verified that your enlarger alignment is good? It seems odd that your 35mm is not held sufficiently flat by your negative carrier.

Neal Wydra

mwdake · Jan 19, 2010

Some films curl more than others. One particular film I use is really bad. I reverse roll this film quite tightly so the roll is about the size of a quarter or so. Then I secure it with a cloths peg, carefully on the edge only and leave it in my darkroom cupboard for about a week. This does wonders to help flatten really curly film.

kristopher_lawrence · Jan 19, 2010

Keep the negs in the printfile, roll the printfile on itself for a night, contra the curve (emulsion side out of your roll) . Your negs will now be a little curved "in the other way" (like they are out of a cassette) it then easyer for the holder to keep it flat.

z3guy · Jan 20, 2010

Mike Wilde is right. As the humidity drops in houses with central heating the film curls more than in the warmer more humid months and it is enough in some glassless carriers to cause problems when printing. The low humidity also tends to mean more static on the film and dust problems as well. A darkroom humidifier may help or the glass as mentioned is my solution.

Paul

moouers · Jan 22, 2010

Thanks for the responses everyone. I'll be sure to let you know the results of some of the suggestions when I am able to try them; I only have a temporary darkroom so in order to make the pain of setting it up worth it, I'll be in there for 5+ hours...and I do this at night...and I work at 6 AM...so printing time is limited to every other weekend on my days off, sadly.

Getting the negative flat...

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