Neg carrier

[Michael R 1974]

Funny you say that. The code name for my latest carrier modification was actually Project Nimitz.

[Michael R 1974]

What is the procedure you guys are using to clean glass carriers? I have AN glass coming for my 6x6...

I just use the same Tiffen or Zeiss lens cleaning fluid I use on my camera lenses, with Tiffen tissue.

[clayne]

I use just cotton pads (avail at freestyle) and air. Not mirror clean but enough. I find that microfiber cloths bring back too much fine dust, even with cleaning solution.

[Trond]

I use glass carriers. It takes a little more effort to keep the dust away, but it's worth it.

Trond

[DREW WILEY]

I thought glassless carriers went extinct somewhere back in the dark ages. That's where they belong. Might as well throw away your enlarging magnifier too, along with the fine focus knob on
the enlarger itself.

[Bob Carnie]

+ 1

I thought glassless carriers went extinct somewhere back in the dark ages. That's where they belong. Might as well throw away your enlarging magnifier too, along with the fine focus knob on
the enlarger itself.

[anikin]

+2
Doing lith prints was an eye-opening experience for me. With a glassless holder one print would be sharp as a pin and another would be a blurfest. And that was 120 film on 8x10 paper! For some quick and dirty prints maybe glassless is ok, but if you want to avoid frustration and wasted paper, a glass carrier is a must. The only problem with glass is that the prints get so sharp that you can start seeing the film grain and small dust on your prints which before were blurred away by the popping negative.

[Thomas Bertilsson]

For prints up to 11x14 in the Leitz Focomat V35 I cannot see a difference in sharpness between glassless and glass unless I start looking at the print through a strong magnifying glass. Now, who looks at prints this way? Honestly, the prints are so sharp that I really don't care either, but that is unique to this enlarger for me. The slight loss of sharpness is nothing compared to needing to spot the hell out of each print (something I absolutely loathe to do).

For prints sized 8x10 and up in my Omega I see a clear difference in sharpness, and here the extra effort is definitely worth it. I use a 4x5 glass carrier and mask it off depending on negative size.

I don't think all enlarger neg carriers are made equal.

[clayne]

I usually just clean the carrier once per session and any spots picked up along the way are minimal or not worth caring about (similar to your magnifying glass analogy btw). I do use a kinetronics to clean negatives before I put them in the carrier though, maybe that's one of the reasons I have less of an issue with them.

[Bob Carnie]

My Darkroom is kept at about 50% humidity year round and it seems to help keeping dust down..