Keeping Those Prints Sharp! 

Hello, I have a similar enlarger to you. On your carrier you will see a small rectangle @ 1:18 near the top. As you slide this into your enlarger with it turned on you will see a projected line on your base board. It will be split, if you adjust your focus so the line becomes straight it leaves you very close to fine focus.

Exactly as I work. I do use a sheet of paper for focusing - always have. Cheers John.

Great video. Tip: Setting up a grain focuser by focusing on film grain can be frustrating to start, as the grain may be small, low contrast, and/or mushy. A solution is to scratch some small "X" patterns on a bit of trash negative with a pin, just lightly enough to cut into the emulsion. You will find that focusing and those cut edges is quite easy by comparison. I started with a Patterson grain focuser, which is just terrible. Eye strain; cheap plastic lens. I gave it away and bought a Bestwell. It was made in the US but went out of business. The same unit is now made by someone else - very much like the Scopic he shows here. It is all you really need. When everyone was dumping their darkrooms in the 1990s, I bought a used Micro Omega at a swap meet for $50. It really is the RR of focusers. I used to religiously put a scrap of paper under the focuser to account for that "depth". This used be one of those golden rules in books on enlarging. Then, I discovered, like John, that it doesn't make a bit of difference, at least enlarging a 35mm negative to a 16x20 inch print.

In the states I’ve always heard them called “focus finders” that is exactly how I was taught close to 30 years ago how to do it. Excellent video as always! Cheers

Very good advices! I want to add that it is crucial to have the negative carrier, the lensboard and the paper easel parallel. There is a little tool out there which has a little laser like light source and with the help of a mirror you can check the parallelism of the 3 planes. unfortunately i forgot the name of it and i do not have it by my self. But it is a good tool if you can get it or borrow it…

Like your sheet, The Rule of Thirds .

Thank John, probably difficult to film but beginners may not have a clear idea how grain looks like. As you really need micro adjustments you may pass the optimal focus inadvertently going back and forth. You need to see it once to know what you are looking for. If you see no grain, keep trying.

With 5x7" negatives, when the enlarger head is very high, I use a "Bestwell Magna Sight Focuser". It has a 4 cm diameter eyepiece and still provides a clear image when the eye is 70 cm away from the eyepiece. It's cheap and easy to find on the second-hand market.

I always focus with a sheet of paper

Hi John I use a Micro Omega. It took me a while to find a good one and eventually found an unused one in the USA. It was worth the wait and the cost. I can even see Pan F in both 35mm & 6x7 with this FF. Also as you say you can get into the edges of the neg to see if the whole neg is sharp. By the way, a tip here from me: get some target negatives from Vlads Test Negatives to find out if your enlarger is in the same plane as the baseboard - they are also great for digital scanning. Keep up the the great videos John I look forward to your experience and knowledge weekly. Peter

Great video, I do however think you could have usefully said something about adjusting the alignment of the enlarger, not a lot just a mention because alignment itself would take up at least one video maybe more. But a great video nevertheless. Also full marks for honesty that you cannot see any difference between a paper under the grain magnifier. I have never met or watched a video of anyone who can.

For now I’m using only the AN and a mask for the format, I didn’t see differences in using the lower plain glass instead, maybe in bigger enlargements

Mine's a Docter Wetzlar lens

Hi Mentor John. I see in this video you have some of RH Designs equipment. I don't recall having seen them in past videos. How are they working out for you? Cheers, Brad.

So is it 2 stops darker from fully open or 3?

Hey John. Great video. I just wanted to say, I’m loving your book I recently purchased. I read it every night! I wanted to ask a question about your recipe for DK-76b. I bought the chemistry and have already made a couple batches, but would it be safe to multiply your measurements by 4 so that I can make 4000ml at a time? Or do adjustments need to be made to my grams? It’s because I go through a 1000ml so fast! Thanks John!