Silver (aluminum) neg carrier - Paint bottom black?

[mgb74]

I have an Omega negative carrier that I use on my Beseler 23. It's unpainted aluminum on all surfaces. Most of my other carriers are black on bottom (side toward lens) or both top and bottom.

It seems to me that I should paint the bottom flat black to reduce reflections. Comments?

 

[Rick A]

No need. I have several unpainted carriers, never any issues.

 

[BobMarvin]

That must be a carrier from an Omega B8 (or earlier 6 X 9 Omega). I use one of those; the aluminum-colored carriers work fine.

 

[tkamiya]

For my Omega, carriers come in bare aluminum, painted creamy white, and painted all black. I never noticed any difference in results. I wouldn't worry.... These have existed and used for decades like this.

 

[Newt_on_Swings]

I would paint it all matt black. Any reduction in the possibility of flare or reflections because stray light is bouncing around helps.

 

[MartinP]

At first glance one would say yes, paint it black, but the only place for light to come from to hit that surface is reflections off the inside of the bellows, or the back of the lens-mount, or the upper glass surface of the lens -- not much light pinging around randomly as flare in other words.

 

[Neal]

Dear mgb74,

Years ago I noticed I was having issues around the edge of the frame (slightly darker) when using a 35mm carrier. Assuming that light was reflecting off the vertical surface of the carrier, I beveled the edges back on both and painted them (top one white, bottom one black). The problem went away.

Neal Wydra