all you need are the dimensions. anyone who makes ground glass or fresnels can sell you one. not a deal breaker for me on any camera but a plus if it's a good one.Originally Posted by Roger Cole
all you need are the dimensions. anyone who makes ground glass or fresnels can sell you one. not a deal breaker for me on any camera but a plus if it's a good one.
Well yeah, but who is making them anymore? A Shen-hao fresnel is available from Badger but according to reports above it doesn't help all that much.
I had the exact same Shen Hao (HZX...) and ordered a fresnel from Yanke on EBay. They're probably the largest dealer in custom fresnels on Ebay and can make to suit up to 8x10 but not larger. I think it cost about $40 and was brighter then the fresnel on my Sinar F1 4x5. Also added a Steve Hopf GG and between the two, I could easily focus without a dark cloth in all but direct sun. And that's with my 75/4.5, so that's saying something. The stock GG on the Shen Hao wasn't the greatest, by the addition of the Hopf GG and Yanke fresnel made it into almost an ideal viewing screen.
The camera itself was great too, never had the slightest issue with it and the Shen Hao HZX has more movements than just about any field camera out there. A least in its price class, the Ebony (which the design is based on) has the same or more, but for an additional $4000 too! Regrettably, I ended up selling the Shen Hao on the forum here a while ago to get the Sinar. Just yesterday I ordered the Shen Hao FCL810, which runs about $1000 less than the equivalent Chamonix and I would have chosen the Shen Hao anyway, even if the price was the same.
In my opinion, these high quality handcrafted Chinese cameras, both Shen Hao and Chamonix, have set a completely new standard for modern view cameras and if you're in the market for a wood field camera, it's really hard to beat these for the price, quality and features you get with them. I don't think you get THAT MUCH more for the extra several thousand for a Japanese Ebony. I've never met an Ebony in person, but I'll stick to my story on that.
Another +1 for the Yanke out of China (on E-B). I estimate +2 stops on my HZX45-IIA.
Have a look at auction 270734909498: excellent glass and seller. I use them on all my viewcameras.
Stefan
Thanks for the information and recommendation. Why would you recommend it over the Chamonix? The Chamonix bellows isn't IR safe, and you can only order one a couple of times a year (I think?) but otherwise I've never heard anything bad about them.
Humm...all I see from Yanke on eBay now are combination fresnel+screen for about $90, thuogh that's not so bad. It's the price of the Shen-Hao fresnel alone. But I don't want to pay twice as much only to use just the fresnel part with the Hopf GG. But one way or another, any issue with the screen brightness is solvable.
The shen hao bellows (recent ptb) aren't ir proof either. They ARE suitable for longer exposures compared to the chamonix 45 and ARE compatible with the chamonix 45n series cameras.. I'm using them on my 45n-2 after some tests with ir film.
@roger, I'm guessing shenhao uses the same bellow material for those cameras. Maybe not though as the hz I owned seemed to be fine with ir film although i never tested it as I have with new cameras. Ask your seller.
How about the HZX45-IIA?
Not that it matters that much if Ilford doesn't produce the IR film that Simon recently said on APUG they could but didn't think there was market for. The Rollei isn't all that infrared sensitive and the Efke is gone, or soon will be. Freestyle is supposed to be getting in one last shipment, I think. I stocked up on 120 IR820 but not 4x5.
Rollie IR is fine. I personally liked Efke better, but it was a pretty close match. I wrote more about my thoughts on the two here. Rollie has it's pros and cons, but all-in-all, I wouldn't rule it out.
These were shot on Rollie IR with an HZX45-IIA.
I'll admit I was surprised by reports it doesn't help much. I bought a fresnel for my Shen hao from Badger, and it works great. I don't really need a dark cloth unless the sun is shining directly on the groundglass. Of course, I bought it some years ago, so maybe they've changed. ??
Colleen
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