Going glass with 4x5

[Sinarfar]

I've read a few books stating that glassless negative holders, especially for 4x5 and larger leave the negative quite wavy. I checked my negs, tight in my Omega D2V holder and sure enough, while the holder is fine, the neg is all over the place. Checking the glossy side reflections of straight lines confirmed the neg was anything was flat.

I know the counter-arguments about depth of focus and 4 more surfaces to keep clean. I purchased a glass carrier for my 4x5 and have two questions;

1. Any suggections on using glass carriers concerning preventing newton rings?

2. Can I use the open 4x5 carrier for roll film negs or will the excess light spill-over fog the paper? Will I need to mask for smaller negs?

 

[KenM]

I've read a few books stating that glassless negative holders, especially for 4x5 and larger leave the negative quite wavy. I checked my negs, tight in my Omega D2V holder and sure enough, while the holder is fine, the neg is all over the place. Checking the glossy side reflections of straight lines confirmed the neg was anything was flat.

I know the counter-arguments about depth of focus and 4 more surfaces to keep clean. I purchased a glass carrier for my 4x5 and have two questions;

1. Any suggections on using glass carriers concerning preventing newton rings?

2. Can I use the open 4x5 carrier for roll film negs or will the excess light spill-over fog the paper? Will I need to mask for smaller negs?

Short of using anti-newton ring glass for the top layer of the holder, I'm not sure what you can do. I read somewhere where somebody dusted the negative side of the top glass with something (talc?) which prevents the rings from forming, but I'm not sure this is such a good idea, as the dust would get on your negs.

You can certainly use the glass carrier, but I would create a mask to reduce the amount of light thrown by the enlarger. When I'm enlarging 6x6 or 6x4.5 negs on my 4x5, I use a mask cut from the black plastic bags that paper comes in. Cheap, and simple.

 

[waynecrider]

You can cut a smaller format neg carrier out of black matte board. Trace a standard carrier, just cut a smaller hole. Tape a hinge at the back. You can use your filters inside too.