Last night I did a bunch of contact prints, 4x5 & 6x7 negatives. Time was limited so I didn't switch out my enlarger lenses. My question is , "Did I need to?" The lens which I used last night for both negatives was my 4x5, 150mm. Should I have used my normal 2 1/4 enlarger lens which is a 80mm. Obviously, I could make the test myself, but I welcome other comments as it is a learning experience. Thanks for your input.

-- Raymond A. Bleesz (bleesz@vail.net), October 12, 2001

Answers

Ray:

If you are making contact prints, whichever lens you use doesn't matter at all. As a matter of fact, for contact printing, a lens really isn't even necessary. A bare light bulb would suffice. The lens focal length only matters when you are making projected enlargements.

-- Ken Burns (kenburns@twave.net), October 12, 2001.