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Thread: General LF Accessories...Focusing cloth, loupe, etc.

  1. #11
    Large format foamer! SamReeves's Avatar
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    Re: General LF Accessories...Focusing cloth, loupe, etc.

    Lens shade - your darkslide can double as a lens shade.

    The Toyo loupe is money though. The best robust loupe you can get.

  2. #12

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    Mar 1998
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    Re: General LF Accessories...Focusing cloth, loupe, etc.

    A lot of what you need for 35 mm photography is also needed for large format photography: lens cleaner/cloth, cable release, filters, etc. I think that you'll find yourself making exposures longer than one second. I find a digital wristwatch to be better than counting seconds in my head.

  3. #13

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    Re: General LF Accessories...Focusing cloth, loupe, etc.

    A small can of Dust-Off, small roll of white artist tape, a sharpie pen, ziploc baggies/Eagle Creek pack sacs to carry stuff.

  4. #14

    Join Date
    Oct 2008
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    Re: General LF Accessories...Focusing cloth, loupe, etc.

    Dust-Off? Don't use that stuff. The accelerate will screw up anything it touches. I use compressed CO_2.

  5. #15
    Downstairs
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    Re: General LF Accessories...Focusing cloth, loupe, etc.

    Don't forget a bellows-factor gizmo. Mine is a day-glo, one-inch-long piece of alu tubing (to put in the scene) with the the bellows-factor scale (to put in the ground glass) rolled up inside.

  6. #16

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    Re: General LF Accessories...Focusing cloth, loupe, etc.

    I'd rather just measure and calculate.

  7. #17

    Join Date
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    Re: General LF Accessories...Focusing cloth, loupe, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by AutumnJazz View Post
    So, I will (hopefully) be getting my first 4x5" camera in a week or so. I just realized now that I've forgotten about some rather critical things...like a focusing cloth, a focusing loupe, and film holders. I figure I will just get some cheap plastic film holders off of ebay for not too much, but I have no idea what to look for in a focusing cloth or loupe. Am I missing anything else? (Yes I will have a lens and lens boards. :P)

    Thanks!

    Edit: I think that this loupe was recommended to me once.

    ...I forgot about a cable release, too.
    Dark cloths aren't a problem if you have a sewer in your family. Steve Simmons' book Using The View Camera has instructions. An XXL black sweatshirt can also work well on a 4x5---stretch the neck around the rear standard. For a loupe Toyo is fine but you can certainly get by with a $8 Agfa type, dime store magnifying glasses or even a linen tester---these are perfectly usable.

    Gepe makes nice cable releases.

    Lens? There are lots of choices, pal. Tell us what you want to shoot and you'll be flooded with suggestions. A good "starter" lens for 4x5 might be a 162mm Wollensak Velostigmat series II, Kodak 203mm Ektar, Schneider Symmar convertable, just about any 210mmm, G-Clarons, Dagors---take your pick!

    For ebay film holders, get good looking ones. Trashed out looking film holders are likely abused and have a better good chance of being leakers. You shouldn't want those. You don't want "tilt-all" film holders, either. Stick with Lisco, Fidelity, or the old Riteway Graphics. buy a stack of them or you'll get scr*w*d with the shipping charges if you win one or two at a time.
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  8. #18
    All metric sizes to 24x30 Ole Tjugen's Avatar
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    Re: General LF Accessories...Focusing cloth, loupe, etc.

    A black Levi's T-shirt, size L, has been my favorite darkcloth ever since I bought it in a sale some years ago. It cost me about $1.50...

    The Tessar 150/4.5 has a slightly sticky shutter, but should be decent after a little exercise. It's just to get you started looking through the camera, really! And also so that you have a better chance of decifing what focal length might be worth looking for as a next lens - or maybe 150 is right, but you just need more movements?

    The camera HAS built-in ground glass protection, so that's one thing less to worry about. But it makes some loupes more difficult to use without removing the plexiglass protector, so it might be an idea looking for one which doesn't have to sit flat on the GG to focus.

  9. #19
    Preston Birdwell
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    Re: General LF Accessories...Focusing cloth, loupe, etc.

    "Dark cloths aren't a problem if you have a sewer in your family"

    Let's hope the OP has a seamstress in the family rather than a sewer!

    -P
    Preston-Columbia CA

    "If you want nice fresh oats, you have to pay a fair price. If you can be satisfied with oats that have already been through the horse; that comes a little cheaper."

  10. #20

    Join Date
    Aug 2007
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    Re: General LF Accessories...Focusing cloth, loupe, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by Preston View Post
    "Dark cloths aren't a problem if you have a sewer in your family"

    Let's hope the OP has a seamstress in the family rather than a sewer!

    -P
    A seamstress would be useful for the dark cloth, the sewer more so when developing film or making prints. And in my case, paper recycling for after making prints

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