printing 6x7 negs

[rowghani]

using a beseler 23c. the manual says to use a 90mm lens. ive got a 75mm lens for 6x6. a friend suggested I use a 80mm for anything up to 6x7. what are your thoughts? thanks.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Your lens may not cover your whole neg and the vertical edges may vignette. But if you're using a condenser enlarger, make sure the condenser is set correctly to make sure that there's enough light to cover you neg and it's not the lens. Just make a print and see what happens. My gut feeling is that your lens is made for a 6x6 negative but might work for a 6x7. You can get enlarger lens for cheap on ebay. You probably can get a 90mm for under $60. Good ones too. I print my Mamiya RZ negs with an 80mm and it works fine.

 

[MattKing]

Some 80mm lenses are designed to cover a 6x7 negative, while others don't perform well.

You need to ask about particular lenses.

 

[Rick A]

I use a 90 mm for all my medium format negatives from 6x4.5 through 6x9. The lens I use is a Wollensak 90, which was designed for 6x9 negatives.

 

[jeffreythree]

I use a 90 mm for all my medium format negatives from 6x4.5 through 6x9. The lens I use is a Wollensak 90, which was designed for 6x9 negatives.

I use that lens for all my medium format enlarging as well, 90mm f4.5 Enlarging Raptar.

 

[Konical]

Good Afternoon, Rowghani,

Matt and Rick are correct. For a number of years, I used an 80mm Componon for 6 × 7. It covered, just barely. More recently, I have been using a newer 90mm Omegaron which covers 6 × 7 easily. The Omegaron is supposedly not of the quality of a Rodagon or a Componon, but I find that it gives superb results, at least up to 16 × 20. That lens might be a little difficult to find; I think I bought mine on E-Bay for an extremely reasonable price.

Konical

 

[Stephen Prunier]

Don't want to hijack the op, I use a 105mm lens with my 23 CII. I have the head set for 6x7 but the image doesn't want to fit on a sheet of 8x10 paper. Should I compensate for the larger lens and raise, or lower the head? I thought 6x7 was suppose to print on 8x10 without much cropping.

 

[Mainecoonmaniac]

Oooh didn't know that

Some 80mm lenses are designed to cover a 6x7 negative, while others don't perform well.

You need to ask about particular lenses.

I have a Rodenstock 80mm enlarger lens. You mean some 80mm lenses won't cover a whole 6x7 neg?

 

[John Koehrer]

Don't want to hijack the op, I use a 105mm lens with my 23 CII. I have the head set for 6x7 but the image doesn't want to fit on a sheet of 8x10 paper. Should I compensate for the larger lens and raise, or lower the head? I thought 6x7 was suppose to print on 8x10 without much cropping.

Lower the head, using a longer lens will limit the maximum print size.

 

[MattKing]

I have a Rodenstock 80mm enlarger lens. You mean some 80mm lenses won't cover a whole 6x7 neg?

Correct.

At least, some won't resolve the corners well.

To work with a 6x7 negative, which has a diagonal of about 90mm, an 80mm lens needs to be designed for extra coverage.

The more expensive designs are more likely to work.

 

[Stephen Prunier]

Lower the head, using a longer lens will limit the maximum print size.

Thanks!

 

[ColColt]

I have the Schneider 90mm I've used for 6x6 and 6x7 and it's always worked great. I've never tried anything less.