My wolly 159mm is soo dark, what do you guys do?

[ericmaquiling]

Hi guys,
Can I use a fresnel of some type to see a little better with my Wolly 159mm?
Darn thing is so dark even on a good day

[Kevin Crisp]

There are two different ones, the 'darker one' is f:12.5, is that the one you use? If so there is a brighter one, with a little less coverage.

I use an uncoated 12.5, with a Fresnel, and I can live with it since it is so sharp on my 4X10.

[ericmaquiling]

Do you have a pointer to fresnels on line? I don't really know what to get/where to get one and what works with ground glass.

[Mark Sawyer]

Most of the f/9.5 and f/12.5 Wolly's I've seen or owned open up to around f/6 for focusing and composing. There was supposedly a restrictor screw that stopped them from opening that far, and it may have been common practice to remove them long ago. Does yours open up past the stops numbered on the aperture scale?

[ericmaquiling]

Most of the f/9.5 and f/12.5 Wolly's I've seen or owned open up to around f/6 for focusing and composing. There was supposedly a restrictor screw that stopped them from opening that far, and it may have been common practice to remove them long ago. Does yours open up past the stops numbered on the aperture scale?

Yeah, mine goes past the numbers. I can kinda focus in the middle and stop it down some, but still annoying. And I'm finally getting to the point where I'm like "darn it, I wanna use this more often so I need to have some options'.

[Kevin Crisp]

On my 4X10, with a plain gg, I just bought a full page flexible reading magnifier and put it in behind the ground glass. It lets me see the overall frame adequately, but still focus with a loupe.

I wonder if opening up more than 9.5 or 12.5 gets you into focus shift? I haven't tried it.

[IanG]

Get a better Ground Glass screen. I use a 141mm f14 Ross WA (Protar) and it's easy to focus even in quite poor light, as are my f12.5 159mm WA Wollensak lenses.

I use mine with two 10x8 Agfa Ansco's one with a fresnel the other without, a plain GG is often easier with quite wide angle lenses.

Ian

[Mark Sawyer]

Yeah, mine goes past the numbers. I can kinda focus in the middle and stop it down some, but still annoying. And I'm finally getting to the point where I'm like "darn it, I wanna use this more often so I need to have some options'.

The best options are a better ground glass and a good loupe.

I wonder if opening up more than 9.5 or 12.5 gets you into focus shift? I haven't tried it.

My experience is it doesn't shift focus, it just loses a little resolution and coverage, (it still covers 8x10, but the corners darken a little more).

[ericmaquiling]

Okay, next question. GG sources? I have a Kodak Master View.

[Mark Sawyer]

Before buying a new gg, which gg is on your camera now? The factory gg on the KMV was pretty bright.