Negative carriers question

freax

freax

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Sorry about my ignorance about enlargers but this is intriguing me.

I am searching for a used enlarger but most people are selling them without a negative carrier.
For what I read this is a requirement to do prints.

There is a hypothesis to print without a negative carrier or not ? Should I buy the enlarger (Durst 370) without negative carrier ?

Thanks in advance.
 
For most enlargers you need a negative carrier. A few don't use them (Leitz Valoy) but most do. I would think that most 2d hand sellers would have at least one carrier, but that's just an assumption.
 
For the durst you definitely need a carrier. I wouldn't get one without, it's rather hard to find spare parts for this (now defunct) enlargers. best advice is, if you start out, to buy a whole darkroom from somebody who wants to get rid of the stuff in his basement...

There are lots of enlargers out there for cheap - buy the best you can afford (and complete)!
 
David William White said:
Keep in mind that carriers are not all that difficult to make & at least hold you over until one comes up on eBay.
Click to expand...

It does depend on the enlarger. I have a simple Beseler 4x5 and just about anything could be slipped into the opening for a neg carrier. Some of the more elegant European designs are not so easy.
 
dont even think about buying one without a carrier as finding a lone carrier can be a pig. I will go one step further and say buy only a complete enlarger with carrier, glass carrier inserts and glassless inserts. I personally think glass carriers are the only way to achieve the best quality prints and well worth the trouble.
 
If you insist on getting a glass carrier you'll be searching "until the cows come home". You'll also have 6 surfaces to keep free of dust instead of 2, and you might have problems with Newton rings.
 
Glass carriers are hardly rare and a good few use a universal insert/carrier. Keeping the surfaces clean is easy and takes about 15 seconds for each neg change. Newton rings may or may not be an issue and can be fixed with either AN glass or spray and you can always go glassless if you wish. problem with glassless carriers is that flatness is poor and you do see the difference on larger prints. Slaps you in the face when you go back from glass carriers. I don't know any top end/master printers that dont use glass. There has got to be something in that!
 
Generally one should shop for enlarger with a few neg carriers. I bought my LPL C6600 with only 35mm carrier, and later I paid quoter of price what I paid for complete darkroom for just one carrier for 6x6 negs. I still regret I didn't buy 6x4.5 carrier with 6x6 despite the price tag because now I cannot find one.

I use glassless carriers, my negatives are flat enough, and I never ever will return to glass carriers.

Regards,
Ed
 
Turtle said:
Glass carriers are hardly rare and a good few use a universal insert/carrier. Keeping the surfaces clean is easy and takes about 15 seconds for each neg change...
Click to expand...

I use glass for large prints, the LPL4500 carrier is a great design with only a single top AN glass (in 35mm). Cleaning time varies with the darkroom and the humidity in my experience. My current space is pretty clean, but in the winter I have more trouble with dust bopping around, despite having open windows in the summer. (I used to print at night a lot, printing on moonless nights with the window open is a real joy)
 
We have both glass and glassless carriers for our Magnifaxes (including a single-glass option) and my own suspicion is that the best is whichever you aren't using at the moment.

Magnifax carriers are particularly clever in that they use multi-format adapters, with and without glass, in the same overall carrier.

Cheers,

R.
 
I have very rarely had newton rings even with AN glass (with Tmax 100 and other v shiny films) but I dont bother printing glassless any more. I like sharp grain in the corners and middle no matter how big I print. Printing 10x8s from MF there is no real need as DOF covers it. I also get popping with glassless carriers if I print for long exposure times, say for very large prints. This never happens with glass as the neg is pinned down on both sides. I have had popping with glass on top and glassless underneath. Guess it got hot...
 
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