It is great to have friends in the photography business, people who love and live photography. Today I picked up a wonderful free light box from a friend Jack who is closing down his pro studio. I wiped the light box down and reversed and cleaned the white plastic and now its almost like new, thanks Jack!
Jack also gave me a 10x10 piece of anti newton glass I can use with my Durst 8x10 enlarger if I ever break my current glass negative carrier. Its great to have a back up piece of glass just in case I have an emergency, these things run around $700.
I might be picking up a free Durst 1200 (no head) chassis as well next week, I will have to get a head for it. Michel Karmen the master printer I quoted yesterday swears by the Durst 1200 with the 501 head. He says they are the best enlargers ever made, very sturdy and well made which leads to the sharpest prints (no vibration during exposure). If I can manage a head for the enlarger it might become my number one machine, I have a 450 head which might work, thou I would prefer a 501.
I have been thinking how best to use this new tool. I have a small light box in my darkroom which I use when I am printing. The one I picked up today measures around 24x24 so I can place 4-8x10 negs on it at the same time which is great. I need to set up a room just for my negatives. The biggest mess I have in my photography is my total lack of organization with my negs. Often the hardest part of the printing process for me is finding the damn negative! I need to organize! With a dedicated negative room I can number, date my neg binders and arrange them by format, year, subject etc (35mm, 120, 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 in both color and black and white). Using this free light box to view and organize my thousands and thousand of negs seems the way to go, I might be on the right track to quicker and easier printing sessions.
Having all my negs in one room is a daunting thought, gosh my whole life would be in that little room, everything I am, have been or might become would be stored on those shelves, in those binders.
Here is the light box:
Jack also gave me a 10x10 piece of anti newton glass I can use with my Durst 8x10 enlarger if I ever break my current glass negative carrier. Its great to have a back up piece of glass just in case I have an emergency, these things run around $700.
I might be picking up a free Durst 1200 (no head) chassis as well next week, I will have to get a head for it. Michel Karmen the master printer I quoted yesterday swears by the Durst 1200 with the 501 head. He says they are the best enlargers ever made, very sturdy and well made which leads to the sharpest prints (no vibration during exposure). If I can manage a head for the enlarger it might become my number one machine, I have a 450 head which might work, thou I would prefer a 501.
I have been thinking how best to use this new tool. I have a small light box in my darkroom which I use when I am printing. The one I picked up today measures around 24x24 so I can place 4-8x10 negs on it at the same time which is great. I need to set up a room just for my negatives. The biggest mess I have in my photography is my total lack of organization with my negs. Often the hardest part of the printing process for me is finding the damn negative! I need to organize! With a dedicated negative room I can number, date my neg binders and arrange them by format, year, subject etc (35mm, 120, 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 in both color and black and white). Using this free light box to view and organize my thousands and thousand of negs seems the way to go, I might be on the right track to quicker and easier printing sessions.
Having all my negs in one room is a daunting thought, gosh my whole life would be in that little room, everything I am, have been or might become would be stored on those shelves, in those binders.
Here is the light box:
