Enlarger f-stop sweet spot

In article ,
"Mike" wrote:

Yes. Around f/5.6 or f/8 for faster or slower lenses respectively.

To get reasonable printing times of 8s or so, I have to print at f11 or f16.
Anybody know if they sell ND filters for enlargers?

IMOP completely ridiculous, your going to degrade the image far worse by
putting a filter on the enlarger lens than stopping down will ever do
especially if you have a modern enlarging lens.
--
Duzz that A moose you ?

"Nick Zentena" wrote in message
...
Mike wrote:

Yes. Around f/5.6 or f/8 for faster or slower lenses respectively.



To get reasonable printing times of 8s or so, I have to print at f11 or
f16.
Anybody know if they sell ND filters for enlargers?


Check your lens it might have filter threads. Or you could stick ND
filters in the filter drawer. OTOH you might want to figure out why you
need
such short times. Small enlargements? Bulb too bright?

For my Beseler 23C, I got a piece of dark glass from a glass shop, and put
it in the light path well above the film.

I think the problem is simply that modern paper is very fast, and 30 years
ago, when some of these enlargers were designed, not all paper was that
fast.

Also, the 23C has an adjustable lamphouse, and when you concentrate all its
light in the area of a 35-mm frame, it's very bright. You can adjust it to
illuminate a much larger negative.

To get reasonable printing times of 8s or so, I have to print at f11 or
f16.
Anybody know if they sell ND filters for enlargers?

IMOP completely ridiculous, your going to degrade the image far worse by
putting a filter on the enlarger lens than stopping down will ever do
especially if you have a modern enlarging lens.
--
I think the idea is to put the filter above the enlarger lens. Most
enlargers (but not all) have filter drawers that allow for that.

Hi

A perfect enlarger lens using a cold light would have the following center
resolutions in lines per millmeter.

f-stop resolution

f-1 2000
f-2 1000
f-4 500
f-8 250
f-16 125

A typical Nikon 50mm 2.8 lens might do

f-2.8 100
f-4 400
f-8 250
f-16 125

A typical Nikon 50mm f4 might do

f-4 200
f-8 250
f-16 125

Larry

In article ,
"Mark A" wrote:

I think the idea is to put the filter above the enlarger lens. Most
enlargers (but not all) have filter drawers that allow for that.

A much better idea as per you and Michael's suggestion.
--
Duzz that A moose you ?

"Mike" wrote


To get reasonable printing times of 8s or so, I have to print at f11
or f16. Anybody know if they sell ND filters for enlargers?


Likely those are small prints at f11 or 16. What is your wide open
stop. F11 is only two stops down with my 105mm. Make a test; f11, f16,
f22, f32 and f45. Examine the prints. The small prints I make are
usually 3 or 4 seconds, lith prints 6 to 9.
My timer does have one tenth second resolution. Dan

Check your lens it might have filter threads. Or you could stick ND
filters in the filter drawer. OTOH you might want to figure out why you
need
such short times. Small enlargements? Bulb too bright?


As Mr. Covington pointed out, my 23CII light source is very intense. It is
a DGA Dichro head, but I have it fitted with the conic light integrator and
condensors such that all that light is indeed focused down to the 35mm area.

When I switch to the diffuser, my printing times are much longer. But with
the diffuser, dust was just as bad as the condensor and my prints just
seemed to look better with the condensor so I went back to it.

To get reasonable printing times of 8s or so, I have to print at f11
or f16. Anybody know if they sell ND filters for enlargers?


Likely those are small prints at f11 or 16. What is your wide open
stop. F11 is only two stops down with my 105mm. Make a test; f11, f16,
f22, f32 and f45. Examine the prints. The small prints I make are
usually 3 or 4 seconds, lith prints 6 to 9.
My timer does have one tenth second resolution. Dan

To get about 8s at 8x10 print size, I'm at f11. f16 for 5x7 prints.

The lens is a Nikkor 50mm f2.8. My timer has 1/10 resolution as well, but
this old Omega E-99 is getting sticky and putting it in 1/10 mode seems to
aggravate it. Regardless, dodging and burning is hard at times of 3s.

Mark A wrote:
"Mike" wrote in message
m...

Yes. Around f/5.6 or f/8 for faster or slower lenses respectively.



To get reasonable printing times of 8s or so, I have to print at f11 or

f16.

Anybody know if they sell ND filters for enlargers?


Despite what some have said, f/11 has just as good resolution (even with
diffraction limitation) as f8 on many lenses.

But check with B&H Photo. You should be able to find a large unmounted
filter that you can cut down to size.



A piece of drafting mylar cut to size is neutral in color and has a
transmission density of about .15. Ask for a sheet of 5 mil drafting film,
single sided. Double sided will work as well but single sided is less
expensive. You can find this in any art store where the
drafting supplies are.

You can cut it with scissors. If one piece is not enough then add a second
one. You want to buy an 8-1/2 x 11 sheet. Place the piece you cut in the
filter drawer.

Bert