I have a glassless 4x5 negative carrier for my 45MX, but I'm wondering if I need one with glass to hold the negative flat. Would that run me afoul of Newton's rings? And where would I get one -- are they available on the used market?

-- Ben Crabtree (bcrabtree@mn.rr.com), May 26, 2002

Answers

Ben, I shoot 4x5 exclusively and never found a need for a glass neg carrier. If you are using a condensor lamp, though, you might have problems with negative popping during very long burns, etc., but it should very rarely be a problem and you can usually work around it by prewarming the neg or shutting off the lamp briefly as you move to different areas of the neg.

-- Andy (akkup@mindspring.com), May 26, 2002.

I used a Beseler 4x5 Negaflat which has a clamp arrangement at two opposite ends which purports to stretch the neg flat. I bought mine new and never had any luck with it: it scratched the ends of the neg and still it didn't lie flat. Other users, though, have offered good reports of it.

I also found that the ordinary glassless neg carrier seemed to work fine.

-- John Stockdale (jo.sto@bigpond.com), May 27, 2002.

I have used a glass neg carrier only for masking. Never had a problem with negs not laying flat. Take a look at Usefilm.com under members portfolio James Mickelson.

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), May 27, 2002.

No commercial lab I've been in, or worked in, has used glass carriers for any format. Glassless is fine. After all, you don't sandwich the film between two sheets of glass in the camera, do you?
Negative popping seems to be one of these photo myths that gets blown out of all proportion. It's happened to me only rarely during a printing exposure, and what's the big deal really? just a sheet of paper scrapped.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), May 28, 2002.

I don't find a glass negative carrier necessary for 4x5. The film lays quite flat without any pressure.

35mm, otoh, does benefit from a glass carrier. 35mm film tends to curl more and requires greater magnification, so small deviations are more apparent.

-- Ted Kaufman (writercrmp@aol.com), May 28, 2002.

Thanks for all the helpful responses. Now I don't have to waste time looking for a different negative carrier.

-- Ben Crabtree (bcrabtree@mn.rr.com), May 28, 2002.

My experience has been different. I have a Omega c760 condenser head and I always use a glass carrier when printing 6x6 and 6x7 at 11x14 print sizes and higher. I was getting too many corners out of focus. Yes, I check the alignment on a regular basis. The glass carrier always gives sharp corner to corner prints. I store the carrier in side two palstic bags, inside a drawer. I've learned how to keep it clean, and rarely have to spot prints for dust any more.

FWIW

-- Gene Crumpler (hassieguy@att.net), June 04, 2002.