The Beseler 23c 35mm Negatrans, your thoughts, the good and the bad, please.

[randyB]

I've never owned or used one. What are your experiences with it? Any quirks? Things to watch out for? I am aware of the bad O-rings with age.

 

[AnselMortensen]

I used one briefly when I worked in a lab back in the day.
My observations:
They don't hold negatives particularly flat.
The o-rings slip, stretch, & crack.
Not a big fan of them.
YMMV, of course.

 

[Dave Ludwig]

Unless you are printing every negative and time is a factor it may serve a purpose, but I also agree with everything Ansel says.

 

[mshchem]

They work fine, IIRC there's even a built-in mask for half frame. Definitely designed for production work. I would have a regular carrier first. I always worry about dust.

 

[john_s]

The 120 version is a bit better because above the negative there is glass which is lifted when moving frames, then you lower it and it flattens the negative.

 

[Ian C]

The basic design idea of the Beseler Negatrans film carrier is flawed. It depends heavily on wishful thinking.

If you require your projections to stay uniformly focused across the entire area during exposure, there is no substitute for keeping the film restrained between two flat sheets of glass in a glass carrier.

Glass carriers are simple, and work as intended.

It isn’t difficult to fashion a simple carrier using two sheets of thin window glass joined by a cloth tape hinge along the back edge. A thin black paper (or other suitable material) spacer mask between the top glass and the top surface of the film prevents Newton rings without the expense of anti-Newton-ring glass. All twelve edges of each sheet should be smoothed before assembly with silicon carbide abrasive paper so that the edges won’t damage films or cut fingers. (Twelve edges if you count the corners).

I’ve made a number of these for folks who had a hard time finding the original glass carrier, or for enlargers for which the maker never supplied them. The ones I made for the Beseler 23C give the same results as the expensive Beseler glass carrier and cost only a few dollars to make.

The Beseler carriers are slightly more expensive:

8074 standard glass carrier

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4678-REG/Beseler_8074_Universal_Glass_Negative_Carrier.html

8072 ANR glass carrier

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...072_Universal_Anti_Newton_Glass_Negative.html

 

[xkaes]

They work fine, IIRC there's even a built-in mask for half frame.

And IIRC, some had this and some didn't.

 

[MattKing]

The purpose of the Negatrans was and is to support relatively high speed volume printing of relatively small prints.
It speeds negative handling - particularly of uncut rolls.
Think 5x7/5x5 proofs, or quick 8x10/8x8s for newspaper use.
With care, you can use one in good shape for other purposes, but it really is designed more as a special purpose accessory carrier than for general use.