Dark cloth recommendations?

[John Kasaian]

Ted, My lovely Bride made mine for me as I am downright dangerous with sharp things like needles and scissors. It has three thicknesses; two of black clothe one white 4'x5' for my 8x10. It works just fine and we can modify it any number of ways to suit the need. If velcro works for you then by all means use it. I like snaps since velcro can pick up debris(I shoot outdoors alot)but that is matter of personal preference. A black sweatshirt sounds like a great route to go with 4x5, but might get a little claustrophobic with an 8x10 ground glass in there with you. If you"re going to get a tailor to knock one out for you have it made larger that you think you'll need , you can always cut it down if it is too unwieldy and see if you can get something called 60/40 clothe. They used to make parka shells out of it BG(before Gortex) Its a cotton blend with synthetic. The idea is that the cotton fibers swell when wet keeping moisture (Rain) out while the synthetic keeps the whole thing from becoming a soggy mess, and it breathes. You miight be able to find it at REI. Lead wieghts in the corners , IMHO, is a bad idea. Good luck!

[tedkaufman]

Thank you, everyone, for the excellent responses--and the number! I never figured this to be such a hot topic, but it certainly reveals the resourcefulness of LF photographers.

BTW, since this issue has been covered in the past I'm curious to read the prior posts. So how does one search the archives for a given subject?

[Matthew Runde]

Ted,

I use the sweatshirt method (although I like that idea of the cloth being used to protect the camera from rain).

If you want to test the sweatshirt idea I'd suggest that you figure out which size shirt you need, and then go to a craft store. The store may have lots of different sizes and colors of shirts, and there probably won't be any logos. Also, the prices will be a lot lower than in most other places.

[Kaatharine Thayer]

Being a mere photographerette, I do know how to run a sewing machine, and sewed my own dark cloth from a lightweight, tightly woven wool twill. The weave is tight enough that one thickness is sufficient; it's light enough to fold up quite small, heavy enough not to blow around in a breeze, and being a natural fiber it breathes and wicks moisture. The only sewing necessary is to fold and sew the edges, as one would for a tablecloth, or sew a prefold tape around the edges, to keep the edges from fraying. I thought I was eventually going to put velcro on the edges but I find I prefer it without, since it seems like my lens wraps that have velcro are always having to be extricated from themselves or other things, which is annoying and interrupts the work flow.

[Daniel luu Van Lang]

Hi Ted, You should have a look on Michele Vacchiano Website (www.michelevacchiano.com, he is Italian and has experience about shooting in LF in the Alps, he has a dark cloth made by Lotus view camera in Austria, and it seems to be very practical. regards

[Sal Santamaura]

Ted, do an advanced Google search limited to the domain greenspun.com and look for results with 'any of the words' dark, cloth and focusing.

[Chen-Wah Lee]

I use the large film changing bag as a dark cloth. I also put my flat bed camera inside the changing bag before I put the whole thing in the backpack in case of rain. C.W. Lee

[neil poulsen]

If you make your own, be wary of using heavy material. My wife made me a really nice dark cloth years ago, and it occurred to me only recently how heavy it is! So, we found a much lighter weight cloth that still keeps out the light. LF packs can easily run 25-50 pounds, and you want to do what you can to limit weight.

[Ken Burns]

There is no such thing as a quintessential dark cloth!!!