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Use red filter under enlarger lens to get best picture area.

Bill Burk

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Assuming you don't have an easel... 1. With the negative focused, swing the orange filter in front of the lens and switch on the enlarger. 2. Place the paper on the baseboard, moving it about to get the best picture area.



I've always made sure I had the accessory red filter for every enlarger, but have never used one.

It seems so logical and obvious what it is for. But what's never made sense to me is why you would ever need one.

While browsing through O.R. Croy's "The Complete Art of Printing & Enlarging" I came across this illustration.

And suddenly it made perfect sense.

Amateurs did not always have an easel.

I always have had one.
 
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And don't forget two wooden rulers (plus masking-tape or small weights) to hold down the curly paper! As a penniless teenager it was indeed a while before I had an easel to use with my Russian 'suitcase' enlarger. Prints with borders were really a 'Pro' thing
 
I sometimes print without an easel and still hardly ever use the red filter.... I focus/position/crop onto the back of a leftover print, put little pieces of blue masking tape so that the corner of the tape just touches the upper left and lower right corners of the paper. Enlarger off, place fresh paper in the space marked by the tape, expose...
 
I use it most often for positioning masks for short burns, for example a piece of paper with a hole in it; Move the red filter in place get the hole positioned in the burn area, then move the filter aside and start the burn exposure.
 
I did go through a lot of masking tape in the old days... I'm pretty sure I didn't think of using the red filter to solve the positioning problem.
 
bdial said:
I use it most often for positioning masks for short burns, for example a piece of paper with a hole in it; Move the red filter in place get the hole positioned in the burn area, then move the filter aside and start the burn exposure.
Click to expand...
+1
 
The red filter with many enlargers isn't safe enough with MG papers, it may not cause fogging but can have an adverse effect on print contrast due to latent image bleaching, better known as the Herschel effect. It's why the OC/902 filters are recommended by most paper manufacturers these days. It's also the filtration used by Ilford in their paper cutting facility although at a far lower intensity than would be used in a typical darkroom

Ian
 
I always use a red filter, maybe it's just how I started and got used to it.
But in all honesty I don't see how I could eliminate this from my workflow. I have all my negative carriers filed out as I like the black borders and it's very hard to center the negative just by eyeballing it. I therefore put the negative in, fix the paper into the easel and under the red light move the easel so the image projected is exactly where I'd like it to be.

I also use it for burning and dodging so I can place the wand to the right place before going for it. This was a lot more important with the Condenser enlarger I used to use which gave very short printing times, now with the diffuser type I use it wouldn't be absolutely necessary I assume. Still, it has become a habit and wouldn't want to stop doing it.

Ben
 
Gents, I need to shed a bit of ignorance here. 'Having not printed for decades, I don't see from the illustration or discussion - what is made possible/easier w/ the filter than without. The unfiltered light will show the image area, where to position the paper. If its reduction in light for use w/ unexposed paper, is it just more contrasty than stopping down 3 stops? Or is the red close enough to safelight to allow a no-risk positioning of unexposed paper?
Its a noob question, but I'd rather ask than stay ignorant.
 
The red filter is the equivalent of "safe light" and should not fog the paper (providing it is the right kind of filter). Using the red filter means you can project a red image onto the paper for proper positioning without an easel frame or to identify parts of the image that need an extra bit of exposure ("a burn") or indeed parts of the image you want to dodge. I can confirm mine works as several times I have absent mindedly forgotten the red filter is in place and then wondered why the paper is completely blank when I try to develop it.
 
Ah. Svenedin, Thank You - the safel light. *That* makes sense. I would think the enlarger light source would need to be on the mild side.

Michael - just saw your kind post. Thank You.
 
Thank You for your patience w/ the noob question. I appreciate the kind help.
 
Theo Sulphate said:
That's what I do also. Having an easel, I still need to reposition it and focus under the red light.
Click to expand...

??? I think I'm missing something - why reposition the easel after setting it up, and why focus with red light?
 
MartinP said:
??? I think I'm missing something - why reposition the easel after setting it up, and why focus with red light?
Click to expand...

Not sure for others but like I said, I have my carriers filed out and I can never center the negative just by looking at it. I need to put the paper into the easel and have the projected image shown through the red light so I can move the easel around and sometimes the negative as well to make sure I have the same amount of black border on all sides.

Could be that this is just a habit on my end and if I never had a red filter, I'd be working in a different manner. But I like being able to see it just one last time before enlarging to double check everything is lined up.

Of course I also use a red filter when wall projecting but I think that's pretty obvious why and it isn't debatable that a red filter is needed then. I make 1meter x 1meter enlargements and no mistakes are allowed as paper tends to be pretty expensive.

Ben
 
Don't you compose and focus with a scrap piece of white paper in the easel?
Does your easel move when you don't want it to?
 
MattKing said:
Don't you compose and focus with a scrap piece of white paper in the easel?
Does your easel move when you don't want it to?
Click to expand...

Well, I can vouch that I use dirty borders and I do compose and focus with a scrap of white paper in the easel. The easel doesn't move...

But to give bence8810 some credit... I can see where a little last minute adjustment could come in handy. And if you use Speed Ez-El's, they are difficult to hold down (always having to use masking tape gets messy and annoying).
 

I use 4 bladed easels and the blades move - every so slightly - every time I lift it up to place the paper etc. I'd love to use the Saunders easels etc but they are way over my budget. They go for about $400US a piece here in Japan if not more.

I have the cheaper LPL easels and they aren't that tight. The red filter saves the occasional surprise when taking the paper out of the developer and see that the "dirty border" is uneven on one side etc.

Ben
 
When I last had a darkroom setup the easel was older and the rubber feet had hardened, yes it did slide a little bit sometimes after putting in real paper so the red filter was very handy in that regard.

Back then I rarely dodged/burned, being more into exposition and less into artistic perfection, but when I did I also set up the dodge and burns with the red filter.

And because I didn't have a timer that shut off the safelight I had that off most of the time when paper was involved and the red filter was quicker to pop on and find something I left on a shelf instead of in its usual place
 
Strips of grip tape on the underside of the easel, just like you'd use on your stairs. If you need a more precise arrangement, devise a clamping system or use thin cork pads or strips.
 
I use Speed Ez-El's and never have any trouble with them moving around. They have a wide foot on two sides so they can be held down as paper is inserted and removed. Their yellow color allows one to focus without resorting to white paper.

Some years ago I lost the red filter from one of my enlargers and never bothered to get a replacement. That's how handy I think they are.
 
In my case it's not so much the actual easel moving around on the baseboard but the blades of the easel don't hold tight. I know the Leitz and Saunders easels have that tightening screw that holds the blades firm but it isn't the case with what I use (LPL) so I am stuck with the Red filter.

When I upgraded (or downgraded - haven't quite made my mind up about it) to the Beseler 23III-XL from a Lucky 90M-D, it didn't come with a red filter and I went through quite some trouble to sourcing it.

Ben
 
I made a borderless easel from a bit of mdf and a 3M Post-It bulletin board sheet (you could also use double stick tape.
 
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