projecting the image onto the easel?

stradibarrius · Feb 15, 2009

I got my enlarger set up this afternoon and put some negatives in it and projected them onto the easel.
I move the project head up or down to control the size of the image and then use the focus knob to bring it into focus.

My question is, with a 35mm negative and a 50mm lens in the enlarger, the image seems to spill off the easel in one direction and not quite fill the frame in the other.
I can move the head up or down and bring one side, length or width into the boundaries of the easel but the other will either be too large or too small.

Should the aspect ratio of the 35mm negative project perfectly on to an 8x10 easel?

I was really exciting to see the first image come into focus!!! I used the grain focuser to get the focus sharp and that work really good. I hope to be able to actually print tomorrow night.

Monophoto · Feb 15, 2009

The aspect ratio of a 35mm negative is approximately 1:1.5, while the aspect ratio of an 8x10 easel is 1:1.25.

No, they don't match.

You either must crop the image to fit the 8x10 format, or you must crop the paper to fit the 1x1.5 format negative. Or, more likely, you do something between those two extremes.

heart of stone · Feb 15, 2009

No, 35mm doesn't fit an 8x10 piece of paper, you'll need to crop. However, it will print very close to full frame on either 5x7 or 11x14.
Ken

stradibarrius · Feb 15, 2009

good, I was afraid I was doing something wrong!
The part that is projected outside the blades of the easel are the part that gets cropped out?

BetterSense · Feb 15, 2009

You can crop it however you want. You can zoom out a little bit so the whole image fits inside of 8x10, and then trim of the sides of the paper later if you want. You can do whatever you want to do. I personally don't like the 8x10 aspect ratio and end up trimming or matting the long dimension of the paper usually.

bdial · Feb 15, 2009

Yes, anything outside the inner edges of the blades will not show up on the paper. You can set the blades to match the aspect ratio of the neg. In the case of 35mm and 8x10 paper you'll end up with a wide border on one long side. This assumes you're using a two-blade easel where the borders of the top and left side are fixed.
With a 4 blade easel, you can center the image on the paper.

removed account4 · Feb 15, 2009

hi barry

don't forget to put your grain focuser down on a scrap of paper
(so you are focusing on something the same thickness as the photo paper)
that way you won't be a smidgen out of focus.

have fun!
john

stradibarrius · Feb 16, 2009

Thanks for the good information!!

r-brian · Feb 16, 2009

A full frame 35mm negative translates to a 8x12 image (or 4x6), so you lose some length on 8x10 paper. But, the average viewfinder in a consumer 35mm SLR doesn't show you full frame to begin with. They show around 93-95% of the negative. Your composition may already be cropped for the 8x10 aspect more than you think.

I shoot a Nikon F3 which has a 100% viewfinder. I print my 35mm negatives at 8x12 centered on 11x14 paper.

stradibarrius · Feb 16, 2009

The nagatives I was playing with last night were some I had taken with my Nikon F-100 & 28-105mm

stradibarrius · Feb 22, 2009

I know that a 55m enlarger lens is best for 35mm and a 105mm is better for 6x7 but what are the negative effects of using a 50mm with 6x7 negatives? I have printed this way and it works but I am not sure what using the 50mm rather than the 105mm does?

MattKing · Feb 22, 2009

stradibarrius:

A 50mm enlarger lens isn't designed to cover that large a negative. So if you want to print the whole 6x7 negative, all but the centre bit is likely to be unsharp and probably lighter (in the print) than the centre of the image.

For some 50mm lenses, the corners might even be blank.

Also, the higher magnification of the 50mm lens will mean for 8x10 or smaller prints you will have uncomfortably close working distances (the enlarger head will be too close to the paper).

You can use the 50mm lens if your intention is to crop heavily, and just print something like a 24mm x 36mm part of the 6x7 negative, but you need to be sure that that part is centred in the negative carrier.

Matt

P.S. for the same reason, you cannot normally use the lenses for your 35mm camera on your 6x7 camera. The 35mm lenses don't cover the film area.

stradibarrius · Feb 22, 2009

What is a good lens speed for a 100 or 105 lens?

Chan Tran · Feb 22, 2009

I have 2 Rondenstock 105mm. One is f/5.6 and the other f/4.5. I think the f/5.6 is a better lens.

randerson07 · Feb 23, 2009

So what happens when you do the opposite, use a 90mm lens to print 35mm negs?

MattKing · Feb 23, 2009

randerson07 said:
So what happens when you do the opposite, use a 90mm lens to print 35mm negs?

You get small prints .

Or, if you are somehow able to get the lens far enough away from the paper to get bigger prints, you will find that you are using the lens at a magnification that it probably wasn't designed for, so your prints won't be as sharp and/or the contrast will be poor.

Matt

randerson07 · Feb 23, 2009

Well yeah I certainly cant make large prints, largest I can go without projecting on to the floor is about 8x5.25. But I haven't noticed any sharpness/contrast issues, my prints are mediocre at best anyways.

projecting the image onto the easel?

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