Sharpness of negatives

[chuck94022]

Tear the camera apart? hardly. You just remove the back. Checking for proper istallation of the GG when one is having trouble focussing is a bit like checking for gas in the tank when the car cranks but won't start.

I said I was exaggerating!!! :-) i own two field cameras, I know what we're talking about! :-)

[Jack the boatman]

Hi,

I have attached an example taken in Glencoe. Hope this helps

Jack

[patrickjames]

It seems that all the possibilities that I can think of are already in this thread except for one. Are you loading the film backwards? That would cause the fuzziness your image seems to have.

[E. von Hoegh]

It seems that all the possibilities that I can think of are already in this thread except for one. Are you loading the film backwards? That would cause the fuzziness your image seems to have.

It would also, due to the anti-halation dye, leave the film badly underexposed.

[Jack the boatman]

Hi,

No, I am careful to use the notches on the film to ensure it is in the film holder properly.

Jack

[mcherry]

How are your eyes?

I am nearsighted (or is it farsighted?), I can't see things close to me. So, with some loupes I have a hard time focusing. If the loupe isn't focused to the ground glass, and I focus the image to my eye, it will not be in focus. Also, some loupes suck.

So the first step is making sure you're properly focused on the ground glass. Set up a piece of white board in front of your camera and use your loupe to view the ground glass. Look at the lines etched into the glass. Those lines should be razor sharp and you should be able to make out the etching detail. If not, your problem lies with your loupe (and/or your eyes). You want a high optical quality loupe and, if you have any eye issues, you want to be able to focus the loupe on the ground glass (etching lines). Once you do that, then you can trust your eyes for focusing.

I would bet a bright shiny penny, that's your problem.

[E. von Hoegh]

How are your eyes?

I am nearsighted (or is it farsighted?), I can't see things close to me. So, with some loupes I have a hard time focusing. If the loupe isn't focused to the ground glass, and I focus the image to my eye, it will not be in focus. Also, some loupes suck.

So the first step is making sure you're properly focused on the ground glass. Set up a piece of white board in front of your camera and use your loupe to view the ground glass. Look at the lines etched into the glass. Those lines should be razor sharp and you should be able to make out the etching detail. If not, your problem lies with your loupe (and/or your eyes). You want a high optical quality loupe and, if you have any eye issues, you want to be able to focus the loupe on the ground glass (etching lines). Once you do that, then you can trust your eyes for focusing.

I would bet a bright shiny penny, that's your problem.

Focussing the loupe on the etched lines on the GG is only useful when the lines are on the ground side of the glass. They are frequently on the outside/smooth side of the glass.
But, double checking that the loupe is correctly focussed on the texture of the ground glass is always a good idea.

[patrickjames]

You may want to check to see if the film is notched on the wrong side.

Other than possible camera movement it doesn't seem that you are doing anything wrong. You may want to do a test with flash to eliminate that variable. Lens tests are best done with flash in my opinion. Everything that should be sharp is at 1/500.

[Brian Ellis]

Maybe your expectations are too high, which would be somewhat understandable if you did a lot of reading here about the supposed vast superiority some claim for 4x5 vs any other format.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Jack, that image is beautiful. Has a really nice pictorial feel to it.

Checked the distance from the edge of the ground glass screen to the surface of the ground glass screen, then compared this to the comparable distance on my film holders. All are equal and identical.

How did you do this ?

Are you sure that the film holder when inserted the film is at the same plane as the gg? I once had an old Linhof IV, and they were not on the same plane. It was very slightly off. A simple test is the "toothpick test", outlined in an older issue of PT magazine. Is there a fresnel underneath your gg? If so, was it installed properly?

Andrew