Sinar/Hopf ground glass?

**lbenac** · 5-Apr-2014, 20:02

Hello,
It seems that Steve Hopf's ground glass is considered the best.
Does anybody had the chance to compare one with a Sinar OEM?
I am wondering if this would be a reasonably priced improvement.
And yes I know about the Maxwell GG/Fresnel and no I am not considering spending $300+ on one :-)

Cheers,

Luc

**lbenac** · 12-Apr-2014, 07:06

Anybody?

**Jason Greenberg Motamedi** · 12-Apr-2014, 09:03

Not the same size, but I haven't noticed any difference in brightness between my 5x7 with Hopf's glass and my 4x5 with the original Sinar screen (not the fresnel).

**Bert Vliegen** · 12-Apr-2014, 09:07

I an also curious but I have a Chamonix 045n2 and the GG is rather dark....

**lbenac** · 12-Apr-2014, 11:16

Originally Posted by Jason Greenberg Motamedi

Not the same size, but I haven't noticed any difference in brightness between my 5x7 with Hopf's glass and my 4x5 with the original Sinar screen (not the fresnel).

Thanks Jason.
I guess that the smaller the size the bigger the difference might be.
I ordered one before I had read your post as my Sinar GG has a few scratches and Steve is a nice guy to deal with so will see.

Cheers,

Luc

**lbenac** · 12-Apr-2014, 11:20

Originally Posted by Bert Vliegen

I an also curious but I have a Chamonix 045n2 and the GG is rather dark....

On my field camera I have an Ebony gg/fresnel. It is very clear and fine for "general" focusing and for short lenses in dark places i.e. 135mm or 100mm in a church.
I had a Chamonix with a Hopf GG and that works very nicely as long as you use a dark cloth.
On my Sinar which I use with subjects that require a fine focusing for small DOF I could not stand to see the Fresnel grooves.

Cheers,

Luc

**Noah B** · 12-Apr-2014, 12:15

Most ground glasses are made of soda lime glass. You can tell by taking the glass and looking at the edges, there's a slight greenish tint to it. Steve makes those as well as the borosilicate, which don't have that tint. That glass is stronger than soda lime, I have one in my Linhof and love it. As far as brightness is concerned, I don't think there's a difference between soda lime ground glasses regardless of the manufacturer. The borosilicate seems just a teeny bit brighter because it doesn't have a tint to the glass, but nothing to write home about. I think fresnel is the best way to go, I had a Sinar branded fresnel screen for my F and it was fantastic after you get over the small lines in it. Nowadays I just prefer a regular GG since I shoot outside mostly, the borosilicate screens Steve makes are great.