Dark Cloth or Hood?

[Gene Crumpler]

I've now into my new adventure in LF that I need a couple of opinions. This is a pretty universal need for all LF photographers.

I'm wondering if a good folding hood on the back is as workable as a dark cloth that a lot of us hide under. My toyo does not have a ground glass protector right now. I'm using a piece of 8 ply mat board and a rubberband to protect the glass. I've priced a new cloth and a used hood for the toyo and they are about the same.

Question; is a flooding hood adequate for out door work? Also what are your thoughts on a suction loup? I currently have a 7x B&L loupe that I use to use in a lab to measure gas chromatography peaks.

[Alan Davenport]

With a fast lens (f/5.6 or faster) you might be able to see the image most of the time. With something like a 90mm f/8 Super Angulon you'll see mostly frustration. I don't think the hoods are a good substitute for a darkcloth.

If you are looking for another way to protect your groundglass, check out the Calumet GG protector. It's basically a U-shaped piece of plastic that slides in like a film holder. Covers and protects BOTH SIDES of the glass.

[Paul Butzi]

In my limited experience with folding hoods, they're inadequate.

I use a variant of a dark cloth, made by The View Camera Store.

I use this one www.viewcamerastore.com/product_info.php?products_id=32&osCsid=7327c574a0d8505aab11634055e51e61

I have the little 10x Peak sucking loupe (Honest, I think that's what it said on the box!).

It's useful for lots of stuff. Using it on the ground glass is not one of them.

I use a calumet 7x focusing loupe which I can't find on the Calumet web site, sorry.

[lee\c]

Hi Gene,

In my mind there is no way that the folding hood would be dark enough. I use a darkcloth from the viewcamera store (http://www.viewcamerastore.com/) have seen some good ones from the Blackjacket people. (www.quietworks.com) Several of my friends that are handy with sewing have made their own. I am not handy that way.

Alan has given good advise.

leec

[Matt Mengel]

I have only used the metal hoods, such as the Graphic type. It's tough to get a loupe near the glass with one of those and still tough to focus. As for the focus cloth, buy some material and have a seamstress or tailor make one up. They are really just some white cloth and black cloth with a hem. Do a search here and get some suggestions before buying the material. Also a black sweatshirt will work if you are short on cash, or forget your focus cloth at home.

[Ole Tjugen]

I use both!

Most of my cameras (sounds frightning) come with folding hood - Linhof Technika and Color, Voigtländer Bergheil, Avus and VAG - which is great for initial setup and basic pointing-the-right-way. At least as long as I use lenses no slower than f:5.6 or so. For the final fine-tuning and focus-twiddling I use a dark cloth, a.k.a black T-shirt. With wide-angle lenses of f:8 or worse it's really the only usable thing.

But since my cameras have folding hoods, I find them easy to use and worth keeping. But I'm not planning to get them for cameras which don't come with them!

[John Alexander Dow]

I use a lightweight anorak for viewing. It is much lighter in weight than a dark cloth and keeps me dry if it rains. For my type of photography (mostly landscape and the odd ancient building) I do not find getting focus a problem in spite of using glasses, especially as I willl stop down to f22 pretty much all of the time.

Wide angles with front rise I focus in the middle and pretty much guess the overall framing from experience. It is just impossible to see the corners anyway on the screen and you do get used to the way reality translates to the film frame.

Of course If I was doing close up work and using extreme movements with large apertures I Would get my lupe out but I rarely use it in the field.

JayDee

[Gem Singer]

Hi Gene,

If you are planning on investing in a Toyo folding focusing hood, also plan on purchasing a Toyo 3.6X focusing loupe. It's a longer length metal tubular loupe that is designed for use inside of the deep Toyo folding hood. I used that set up on both a Toyo 45AII (it came equipped with a hood) and a Toyo 45AX ( I had to add a Toyo accessory hood). The Toyo folding focusing hood works great for composing, as well as for protecting the excellent (and expensive) Toyo Fresnel focusing screen.

In most instances, the folding hood, alone, was sufficient, as long as the sun wasn't shining from directly behind. When it did, I had to use a Toyo darkcloth, as well as the folding focusing hood.
Don't waste your money on a Peak suction loupe. 10X magnification is too strong. The Fresnel lines and the grain of the ground glass will show up and become annoying.

[Danny Burk]

Hi Gene,

For most 4x5 shooting, I love my Horseman bino reflex viewer; it makes composition and focus much more enjoyable and efficient. Unfortunately, Horseman has discontinued them, and they're now in considerable demand on the used market, but can be found with a bit of searching.

On occasion, I can't use the viewer due to the camera's position, and at these times I use a BTZS focusing cloth; I also have one for my 5x7. It's sort of a "tube" that has an elastic band where it fits around the rear of the camera, and a split (but Velcro-attached) seam into which you insert your head. It's far nicer than the traditional horseblanket-style darkcloth.

I'll give you a good look at these various accessories at the Smokies workshop in October

Regards,
Danny www.dannyburk.com

[Rich Long]

< shameless plug > If you decide on a dark cloth, and like the BTZS version linked above, I have a nearly-new one advertised on APUG and Photo.net. < /shameless plug >