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How to prevent light leak when making contact sheets


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Please explain your problem.

Why would a light leak bother you at all? Where would it occur? what kind of harm could it do?

What are you using?

When I want to contact copy onto one sheet of paper, I will keep the other sheets I have inside their light tight package and wait till I light my darkroom with wheatever is used for contact printing until the previous sheet is in the fixer.

 

Biggest concern with contact printing is to ensure contact between film and paper. For printing plates we used vacuum frames. Some glass plate above your film seems essential.

Light emerging my contact copying device doesn't bother me as long as enough light hits the film above the paper.

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Please explain your problem.

Why would a light leak bother you at all? Where would it occur? what kind of harm could it do?

What are you using?

When I want to contact copy onto one sheet of paper, I will keep the other sheets I have inside their light tight package and wait till I light my darkroom with wheatever is used for contact printing until the previous sheet is in the fixer.

 

Biggest concern with contact printing is to ensure contact between film and paper. For printing plates we used vacuum frames. Some glass plate above your film seems essential.

Light emerging my contact copying device doesn't bother me as long as enough light hits the film above the paper.

 

I'm sorry for my late response. Thank you for your feedback and explanation

 

I think I rushed into it too quick. I really messed up and overexposed the whole left side. I was trying to copy the Ilford tutorial on "How to print a basic contact sheet." I thought I had covered the sheet in 5 second intervals. Before making the sheet, I noticed that the negatives themselves were very underexposed. The light meter was not working on my camera. However, I should have known better.

Here is a photo of the contact sheet:

flcVjUYlys5g1U2Ai_Tr-v6j1rCbcsND3NovqqFXEA0wUETIazAU7GLlf4qTlt2R0HM6GnpDPJTOtu8FxWO8Tw5bFkziGhOLzaUruK24u5g--k6GQi1UYIhmR630bDc8l5B5ER6n6IWe_wwcs53noN7oWMVWtsWbM_mXI6U_YbQUEjEpeMbD8xXBedMh031jo7Bst82EyM76QD8nAZJL5JhIcOzqOacSqaALmME24m7DPz5xHnTD2n5iypyoChrgZ1yy1uLKcgTdQkZv_vN8hWkOd_Sa3oFtjbEVO7HHJlnt-Nd-GuASEzkWMFPZz75jOZAGVHAJ-vHxzfV9TUkIUSCuOiIvHfRyB5ryYx59089FIEzLpsmet_UnVXqUq4T0tLIgRw5JDBob-LEn1OmcqVYaoJ6LUHZD2sv5LFKUvnQ6FOGerEtgScv5pc4MBYMdm_FE61vzGisli9WIGkaFvkPX7bYHCt8L025RqPedsAer60bZndih3BybVCf6LrW-bkvbUomgtEzq2xgALqgOCGhJj5524GtLWConRdqy4GsvBhq-2aDpZOApXzZZpzazgSjF0nJot0WL27YxuWhfhG9DcjMMPAvjv_FfTFY9w1OLkrnfVxmrsPUpYQxYRmQ0l60QPlb9hTuE3-1xeTke116MHiz65L7hjQsOX84qLJqFNwyqJmCGEAJpSQ8sTw=w481-h641-no

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There are special frames but I've always used a simple sheet of heavy plate glass to hold the negs flat against the paper. Any light source works, but small is better than something huge in case the contact isn't perfect. Enlarger works.

 

I will make sure to remember that. Thank you for your reply.

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