Re: [Leica] making contact prints

[Kip Babington <cbabing3@swbell.net>]

There are a number of contact printing frames available for 35mm
negatives.  Basically they are a base with a foam pad a bit bigger than
8x10, and a sheet of glass that hinges down over the pad to hold
negatives in contact with the paper underneath.  Six strips of 6 frames
will fit on an 8x10.  If you cut in 4s you'll only get 24 frames on a
sheet.  Paterson used to make a contact printer that had a mask that
held strips in alignment (you could load it in the light, then turn out
the lights, put a piece of paper in some clips and fold the lot down
onto the pad) and exposed some lines for subject, date and technical
info at the top of the sheet as well.  Others may offer similar
devices.  If your film tends to curl up lengthwise (Tech Pan is the
worst in this respect, of the films that I've tried) one of these
contact printers with alignment strips avoids a lot of frustration.  If
your film will lie flat, it's not much of a trick to just lay the strips
out on the paper and fold the glass down on top of them, although you do
need to be gentle in order not to push the film out of alignment - this
may be less of a problem if you use strips of 4 instead of 6.

While there is a fair bit of information in a 35m contact print, you
need a good magnifier to see it (I've come to prefer a 5x loupe that
attaches to a pair of strong drug store reading glasses - this gives the
least interference with light reaching the surface of the contact while
you try to evaluate it.)

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Kip

Andrew Moore wrote:

> I usually don't make contact sheets from my (OT: Leica)
> 35 mm negatives because I simply don't have a way of
> doing it with good results.  I'd like to start making contact
> sheets now.  Is there any equipment or techniques that
> would really help here, particularly for holding a set of
> negative strips (4 frames per) aligned and flat while the
> exposure is made?
>
> Thanks,
> --Andrew
> NO ARCHIVE