I use a Durst M670 enlarger to make prints from my Xpan negs. The only neg. carrier combination I can use with this enlarger/film format is a 6x7 lower mask with a glass upper plate. Two problems arise. The first (and least problematic) is that unwanted light floods past the top & bottom edges of the neg. as of course they are not masked off by the 6x7 mask. I solve that by masking with the masking frame though I do still have unwanted light about. The bigger problem is that as the film edges are not held in place by by the mask. That means when I enlarge either of the two end negs. (of the strips of three into which I cut my films,) the cut end tends to spring through the metal mask as I coax the neg. towards the edgeof the frame. Does anyone know ao a quality enlerger where the manufacturer provides a dedicated Xpan mask?

-- Trevor Littlewood (trevorlittlewood@aol.com), March 17, 2001

Answers

I posted a similar reply once before. I use my cutouts from making mat boards to make specialty film holders for odd sizes--24x65mm, minox, 127, etc. I can use my mat cutter to cut them with fair precision, then I put black photographer's tape around the window to reduce unwanted reflections. It's cheap...

-- Ed Buffaloe (edb@unblinkingeye.com), March 17, 2001.

I'm not familiar with the M670, but my Durst DA900, also a 6x7 (or more) enlarger, does come with both single- and double-glass carriers. Is it completely out of the question that they make a double-glass carrier for the M670? Otherwise, what about filing out a lower support plate from a piece of thin, soft aluminum? I think it would hold the negative flatter than cardboard, and could be thinner, making it easier to fit into the carrier.

-- Bob Fleischman (RFXMAIL@prodigy.net), March 17, 2001.

I did as Ed Buffaloe suggested when I posted a similar question and made a panoramic negative carrier for my Omega D2 enlarger out of 4-ply mat boards. A sandwich of 4-ply mats is stiff enough to hold negatives flat. Ed didn't mention it, but his method has the advantage that you can easily bevel the window openings with your mat cutter so you get sharp instead of blurry edges of the carrier if you print full-frame. You can afford to experiment, too--it's cheap! Tim Nelson

-- Tim Nelson (timothy.nelson@yale.edu), March 19, 2001.