For what it is worth: I usually leave my original Fred Picker Zone VI two color darkcloth home (too heavy and impossible to manage in a light breeze) I have a black tee shirt that I put over my head upside down ( the shirt not me ). The waist part of the shirt goes over the camera. By using the armholes it is easy to manipulate the camera and a loupe can be slipped inside. The best use of the "horse blanket' is to use the white side as a reflector.
I think I understand Martin's comment about the BTZS material. BTZS seems to have gone through at least three different materials for its dark cloths. I bought my first one about eight years ago. It was very nice, very light weight and easy to fold and handle, took up little space in the back pack. As I recall it was gray on the outside and maybe blue on the inside. That was for a 4x5 camera. Unfortunately the gray material started flaking a couple years ago and eventually became so bad that I had to replace it. The new one is silver on the outside and has a very "plastic" feel to it which I don't care for. I think that's what Martin is referring to. It also seems heavier and more bulky than the older version but I don't have the old one on hand so I can't directly compare.
I also owned an 8x10 BTZS dark cloth. It was white on the outside and black on the inside as I recall. It seemed to be made of a different material than either of the 4x5 ones I've owned. It also felt heavier and bulkier but that may just have been a result of the larger size.
It's too bad BTZS wasn't able to continue with the original material, I liked it much better than the later materials.
Brian Ellis
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you do criticize them you'll be
a mile away and you'll have their shoes.
Tim, sorry for my poor english. Brian got me right.
Its a miracle to me why the manufacturers often mix up a dark cloth with a rain coat. What are these synthetic coated fabrics good for besides from keeping your head hotter than necessary?
For me Cotton, suede or modern microfibre cloth wins in every aspect apart from working in really messy or wet environments.
Besides from this I am now completely sold to focussing tubes instead of a classical dark cloth. It is a bigger difference than expected when you can completely focus your perception on the picture and don't need to fumble around with a dark cloth.
sorry, again my poor english: miracle should say mystery
Actually Martin, "miracle" in this case sounds more expressive... I apologise on behalf of my ancestors for inflicting such a difficult and awkward language on the world... (Esperanto anyone???)...
But, back on topic: after some experimentation with different materials, none of which had the combination of light-tightness and softness that I wanted, I eventually did a similar trick as above - bought a red/black dark cloth from a shop, added elastic around one end and sewed the bottom edge with a 4" overlap leaving 6" or so for my hand to get in with the loupe (the overlap greatly reduces light leaking in through the hand-hole - a "dot" of Velcro keeps it shut). Seems pretty similar to the BTZS and eBay item you bought, albeit in different materials. It could probably do with some "tailoring" to reduce the bunching up at the camera end, but it works well.
Cheers,
Brian,
You are correct with the second version, which was my first, the white with black inside and heavy. I decided to move to the new silver and lighter version. As for the coated material, do any of you shoot in inclement weather? Ebony produces an all weather dark cloth and it looks to be made of the same material and yes, it is water resistant. That was the reason I chose the new BTZS DC.
www.jerrygreerphotography.com
I have used the newer BTZS hood for about a year now. It crunches up pretty nicely and I haven't noticed any of the silver plasticty outer surface flake off. The elastic camera fitting and the velco on the bottom mean that it is very light-tight, a big plus for me because a lot of my lenses are f9. The only thing I don't like is that the fabric doesn't breathe or wick moisture away. That means it gets really stuffy in there at summertime temperatures and frost buildup on the gc often occurs during wintertime.
My BTZS darkcolth (current model for 4x5) weighs 10.5 oz. I like it better than a conventional horse blanket, but dislike the elastic front.
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
I use an old black t-shirt on my arca-swiss. After buying that, and a rodenstock apo lens, I couldn't afford anything else! And it works just fine.
I am going to have to buy a proper darkcloth. My old black t-shirt worked fine for my 127mm f/4.7 Ysaron but now that I am using a 150mm f/9 G Claron the ground glass looks mighty dim.
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