In Praise of the Maxwell Screen

[Sal Santamaura]

If one chose to use a Maxwell screen by itself (No Fresnel or clear glass)...

Please explain what you mean by this. Maxwell's screens are either a single-piece acrylic with frosting on one side and fresnel rings on the other -- intended for use with a cover glass -- or, in the larger size, simply a fresnel. I am unaware of any Maxell screen that fits your question.

[rfesk]

I have a Maxwell in my Busch Pressman and am very pleased with it.
However, I had to use a clear piece of plastic sheet protector rather than the cover glass due to space considerations. My first screen was slightly bowed so Bill exchanged it for a flat one. (Normally the slight bowing would be corrected by the ground glass.)

Bill once told me that there is usually a trade off between ultimate brightness of the screen and contrast of the image which helps in focusing. The brighter the screen the less the contrast which makes it harder to focus. I dunno.

[Andrew ren]

I bought 2 "Maxwell"s
first one is for my rollei 28f. it's a fine screen.
then I went ahead ordered a 69 screen for my Linhof23. I asked him to cut a 6x7 frame on the screen. and ship it to Paul Ebel, who is going to align my Super rollex backs to the new screen.
When I got everything back from Paul, I surprisingly found out that the 6x7 frame was cut in double lines, I mean, on the matte side, it's 60x72, which is the right size for Linhof 67 backs, but for the fresnel side, it's a bit larger, it's quite annoying. so I called Paul, he told me that it's like that when he got the screen from Bill. then I called Bill, as soon as I started talking about the "problem", he got very inpatient right away, say"what do you want?! no problem on my side, there won't be a single scratch..." after hearing that, I said thanks, and hang up the phone. I knew I am wasting my time.
also, the new "Maxwell" gave me a big hotspot on my Planar 100/2.8, need to dance around to see the whole image.

I just ordered a Canham 5x7 fresnel kit from Keith yesterday. NO need to deal with Bill any more.

[m.bruehl]

Sorry if I am a little slow on understanding:

on both backs of my SINAR (4x5 and 8x10) I have a screen with engraved lines facing the lens and an additional fresnel screen facing the photographer.

Which one is replaced by the Maxwell screen? Or are they both replaced?

If the front one or both are replaced, how do I get the raster lines and the reference lines for asymetrical movements?

Regards

Michael

[Andrew ren]

Michael,

I think the "a screen with engraved lines" is the original gg.

you can take both screens off, put the new Fresnel on. and might need a glass with lines on top it(facing your eyes) to get reference and protect the Fresnel.

Andrew