Contact Frame - Hinged Back or not?

[bliorg]

Hi, all -

I'm making a contact printing frame for the 5x12 negatives I'm shooting, and I'm wondering if I should hinge the back. I'm not quite sure why the back is traditionally hinged. I have an old 5x7 frame I use that's hinged, and I've never used that split back once.

Do I need to split and hinge the back? Archaic feature? Lemme hear it.
Thanks,

Scott

[JBrunner]

A hinged back is useful for checking the progress of exposure for alt process, without messing up the registration of the negative to the paper.

[RobertP]

It is hinged so you can open 1/2 at a time to inspect the progress of the print being made without losing your registration.

[RobertP]

You beat me to the draw JB

[JBrunner]

Kerpow!

[David A. Goldfarb]

And even if you're not doing alt-processes now, you may want to in the future once you've started contact printing, and you can also slightly adjust the position of the neg with half the back closed, if you need to, which is useful.