810 GG question

[atlcruiser]

Hi All,
I just bought and installed a new GG for my deardorff 810 last night. i took it out today to find that I HATE it :)

I do not want to name the maker but lets just say it is one of the nicer, custom GG makers. The glass is brighter than my old one and very well made...shipped quickly and well packed! They have not done a thing wrong so i do not want to bitch and drag their name into my opinion :)

The issue is with the grid lines. My current GG is an old Burke and James clipped cornor GG with a grid. Upon close inspection of the B+J I see the grid lines are actually sections of non sanded glass; at least as best I can tell. The new GG has lines marked/etched on the sanded side. The lines on the new glass look great but are almost impossible to see under the darkcloth. I actually need to unfocus the image in order to see the lines. To say the least this frustrated the poop out of me :mad: I have a hard enough time getting these fu%^(&g walls and windows lined up without an added handicap.

I am not worried about the new GG. The maker told me it was a full money back if I did not like it. I sent an e mail asking if it was possible to make the lines thicker/darker on the GG.

On my Chamonix I have a Maxwell screen. The lines POP right out. On the crown/speeds I have I use the cheap yankee GG and those lines even pop out. What am I missing here?

So..if the current maker cannot make the lines thicker/darker who has well defined grid lines? Is my best be a NOS B+J or deardorff? What experience does anyone have with this issue?

thanks


Just figured out this should be in the camera section....sorry. Move away!

[Ari]

I had the same issue with my Linhof screen, so I replaced it with a Yanke.
There's an 8x10 Yanke screen for about $80, and I had it on my Toyo shortly before selling that camera; it was a great screen.

[atlcruiser]

good to hear about the yankee option. did yours have the fresnel as well as the gg?

[Ari]

good to hear about the yankee option. did yours have the fresnel as well as the gg?

Yes it did; there are two versions of the Yanke GG: one at $80 and the other at $120.
The $80 GG worked very well, and I bought the expensive version for the 4x5.

[atlcruiser]

was the expensive worth it? I figure the 810 w/fresnel is $145 so it is bunch more $$$ but if it works well I am game.

[William Whitaker]

Are the grid lines actually etched into the glass, as in engraved? Are they inked in as well? If they're not inked, would doing so improve the visibility? Traditional ground glass grids do not hold up to cleaning/washing. Don't ask me how I know. An etched grid would be waterproof.

I had an 8x10 Kodak Master for a while that had a Tachihara ground glass. The camera came from Midwest Photo who had installed the glass. It was a wonderful, bright and clear ground glass - one of the best I've had. Around that time Midwest was selling the Tachihara ground glasses outright. I don't know if they still are, but it might be worth an email to Jim Andracki to ask if they still can supply it.

[Jim Jones]

The original inked or silkscreened lines on one of my B&J screens is visible to the point of being distracting. The grid is apparently a clear paint that fills in the texture of the ground glass, making it appear clear. I prefer scribing lines into the ground surface of a glass screen with a sharp hard steel tool. This makes unobtrusive fine lines that are bright rather than the black ink or paint sometimes used as a grid. Perhaps a blunter tool would scribe wider lines that appear more like the lines of the B&J.

[cowanw]

The Deardorff grid is as Jim describes with a clear grid that I find intolerable.
although I have a 50 year old one that is subtle enough.
I guess I am one of those who prefer to defocus to see the grid lines and don't want them interfering with the image.
You can't please everybody at the same time.
For you, I am thinking a new Deardorff type (clear lines) grid would be what you want. Don't mar, touch or wash that side.

[atlcruiser]

This all makes sense now.... I will look at the yankee of a new deardorff. The B+J one I have is OK just missing a bunch of the lines!

[atlcruiser]

Update:
I spoke with the maker of the new GG and he asked for me to send ti back to be re lined with thicker lines. I will psot up the results

thanks

[Ari]

was the expensive worth it? I figure the 810 w/fresnel is $145 so it is bunch more $$$ but if it works well I am game.

David, to answer your question, the expensive 4x5 screen and the inexpensive 8x10 screen are the same; both come with an ultra-thin gridded GG/fresnel and a clear thicker plastic or plexiglass to cover the GG.
I'm not sure what the expensive 8x10 GG comprises, but the $80 version was more than satisfactory on my Toyo 810G.

[atlcruiser]

So.....the new GG has returned. The maker made the lines much darker and it is perfect! Exactly what I wanted. He also sent along a 2nd GG with thick red lines as a demo/spare for me to play test. It might irritate the crap outta me but it sure looks cool :)

I did not mention the maker at the start of this thread as I did not want any ill will towards them until I had resolved the issue. Now that it is resolved I wanted to say I ordered from Steve Hoph and he has been wondeful to deal with. Helpful, responsive and with a genuine desire to make sure I got what would work best for me.

If you want a faint lines GG, a thick line GG, a no line GG or a fancy red line GG Steve would be a great choice to call.


Thanks!

[loman]

Hi David
I`m looking for a new screen for my norma, was the new groundglass a lot brighter than the old stock deardorff screen? also do you see the corners clearly with a 300/240mm lens? Is there a pronounced hot spot?

Kind Regards

Mads

[David Karp]

I have purchased a gg from Steve in the past and am about to do so again. He is a pleasure to deal with, and the glass is very nice.