shim

Definition: Thin piece of metal or other durable material used as a spacer or to align optical equipment. Tricks of the trade: Part ... The shim sounds like a shady character in an underworld novel but it can be the cheapest, easiest step to improved dark-room quality you could possibly imagine. All but the best enlargers are slightly off true alignment: a shim placed between, say, the lens stage and the lens carrier slightlyt o displace a lens can help ensure everything is lined up just so. All it takes is a bit of experimentation and fiddling about: place slivers of metal or plastic at the lens stage and negative carrier in different positions and prepare to be delighted.

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