Personal Experience with 4x10 Cut Dark Slide on 8x10?

[analog65]

Hi, I am going to be cutting one of my 8x10 dark slides in half so I can do some 4x10 contact prints.

I am taking this route for now to see if I want to invest or even need to invest in a 4x10 back on my 8x10 field camera. I first want to make sure the format works for me artistically.

I wanted to reach out to the group here and ask people that have done it to share your thoughts, pros and/or cons about this approach. My concern is light leaking over the dark slide and not creating a crisp line on the cut edge. May not be an issue at all, but don't know at this point.

A penny for your thoughts and tips would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[shutterfinger]

I had a Kodak Commercial View that had flat black glass inserts just in front of the film plane. One was 4x10 and one was 5x8. They could be used independently of one another or together to produce 2 4x10 exposures, 2 5x8 exposures or 4 4x5 exposures, per sheet of 8x10 film. There was no light bleed in any combination.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

It works great with a crisp edge (presuming your cut is crisp), but look at some examples to see how you should cut the slide in an "L" shape, not straight in half, leaving about an inch at the handle end, and about 1/16-1/8" of overlap to keep a margin between the two halves of the sheet. It's very convenient to have this in your bag in the field, without adding much weight or volume to your kit. There are threads on this topic on APUG at at the LF forum at lfphoto.info.

 

[erikg]

I did one for 4x5. Works pretty well, the trick is to keep track of what you shot and on which half. I made it into an "L" as David describes.

 

[analog65]

Thanks everyone. I will use the L cut method and see what happens!

 

[Bruce Osgood]

I've been considering this also. I think I would begin scoring the slide while it sits in the folder to assure what is needed to be removed. I would like to see first how far from the handle I could cut and maintain a +/- 5" window. Probably would not need to be a window but just seeing what needs to be removed and the dimensions would be a great help. Might turn out that two snips will do it.

 

[ic-racer]

I had a few spare 8x10 darkslides and was gearing up to do this. However, after analyzing the challenges of keeping track of which portion of which sheet is exposed, I decided to simply crop when I print.

If you do go ahead and make these, take some time to smooth the edge. If you take your photographs at f64 or f45, the shadow of the darkslide should be clearly rendered. If the cut is rough, it may show as rough and this could be an unpleasant contrast to the smooth edge produced by the film holder.

 

[eddie]

If you do go ahead and make these, take some time to smooth the edge.

And paint the edge black.

 

[Jim Noel]

Keeping up with which film has been exposed is simple. I number my 8x10 holders and add "A" and "B" at the top and bottom when the holder is horizontal with small circle labels. When I expose an area , I never shoot because bullets are dangerous, that sticker is removed.

 

[analog65]

I did the same thing and it is working out really good. For me, the ability to make two 4x10 exposures on a single 8x10 film works really well and also helps with some savings on expensive film too. I left about 3/16 of an overlap with the dark slide so I have a nice straight line between the two exposures to cut the sheet film in half on my roto cutter for my contact prints. Good stuff!

Keeping up with which film has been exposed is simple. I number my 8x10 holders and add "A" and "B" at the top and bottom when the holder is horizontal with small circle labels. When I expose an area , I never shoot because bullets are dangerous, that sticker is removed.

 

[k_jupiter]

Or you just buy an 8x10 Deardorff. Has slides already made to fit in front of the film holder. I found it takes practice to get the image you want without light falloff near the corners opposite the half edge. Seems the adjustments you want to do sometimes gets you into the edge of coverage.


The other thing i have done is scan the 8x10 negative on my flatbed scanner that handles MF film. Gives me about a 60mm x 10 inch image. With a wide angle lens it gives some interesting results.


tim in san jose