Bosscreen contact info

[Craig Maxwell]

Hi

I need a new focus screen for my 4x5 Busch Pressman, I have used the Bosscreens in the past on my studio Cambo 4x5's and would like to get one for this camera. Does anyone have the contact info for the company that makes the Bosscreen ?? I did a search and could not find any info. I most likely will need to contact them directly as I'm sure the screen will have to be custom cut for the dimensions of the Busch. OR any other ideas for a replacement screen for this camera.

Thanks Craig Maxwell

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

I believe that Stabilix, the company which made Bosscreens, went bankrupt about six months ago and has shut down. I did hear that there was a possibility that someone might continue to make the Bosscreen, but have no idea who or when. I suspect you are best off looking for an alternative.

[Gem Singer]

Hi Craig,

Check with www.bromwellmarketing.com, in the Philadelphia, USA area. They are distributors for Bosscreens and still have prices for them listed on their website. Viable alternatives would be Maxwell Fresnel-type focusing screens or Beattie Intenscreens.

[John Cook]

To quote Senator Kennedy, “Aah, Beattie Bee, Dee Beattie Bee”.

http://www.intenscreen.com/

[Huib]

Hi,

I just checked the dutch chamber of commerce website because the register can be consulted online. (www.kvk.nl)

Yes, according the register, Stabilix has filed for bankrupcy and is no longer in business.

Huib

www.huibsmeets.com

[Craig Maxwell]

Thank You Everyone,

I will try to contact Beattie Intenscreen, but they only have an email response form and no telephone number on their website, Any other ideas ??

Craig Maxwell

[tim atherton]

Craig - with a name like that you really have to just go for the Maxwell screen...

Much better than the Beattie (and in most respcts I always found it better than the Bosscreen - which, quite frankly, was a disaster....)

[Brian Ellis]

Before trying either Maxwell or Beattie, check with Bromwell. I had a BosScreen on order for a long time, almost a year. When it finally arrived Ted Bromwell told me that it took so long because the company had been in financial trouble and stopped making them but had reorganized, perhaps under a different name, and the BosScreen was again being made and sold. That was about two months ago.

I wouldn't necessarily say that the Maxwell screen is "much better" than the BosScreen, they each have their benefits. The Maxwell screen is probably brighter than the BosScreen since the BosScreen isn't a true brightening screen, but I'd be surprised if the Maxwell screen, being a Fresnel, doesn't have at least some of the downsides of all Fresnels (at least all I've heard of). I find it very irritating when somebody says something is a "disaster" without saying why. I've used BosScreens on four different cameras and found them very useful, much more so than the Fresnel on my Ebony.

[tim atherton]

"I find it very irritating when somebody says something is a "disaster" without saying why."

Among other things, it didn't work in even moderate cold (never mind the extreme cold I work in through the winter).

The supplier never bothered to mention this in their spiel on the bosscreen or when I was talking about it to them (they actually told me it was fine in the cold - I think their idea of "cold" was around 50f...) - and of course I never thought to ask - because I've never had temperature problems with a screen before or since...

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks for the explanation Tim. I live in Florida and don't photograph in "cold" so that wouldn't have been a problem for me (though I don't consider 50 degrees real cold and probably do photograph occasionally in that). I could be wrong but I don't think these screens typically have problems in that mild a cold, I've read of people having problems in "cold but I thought it had to be something at least below freezing.

[Huib]

Life after death....

I just received an email from a friend who networked a little and found that Stabilix has made a new start under the name of Stabitech. They already have a website online http://www.stabitech.nl the bosscreen is listed as one of the products available. Probably resellers/distributors abroad stayed to be the same companies.

Huib

www.huibsmeets.com

[Ted Harris]

To expand on tim's comments .....



The BosScreen can be verry useful but it is not adaptable to temperature extremes. Physically, the screen consists of a layer of paraffin sandwiched between two glass layers. In extreme heat ... somewhere in the range of 100+ F. the parrafin will melt (you sure can't leave itin a closed car in Florida Brian). In extreme the parafin can crystalize. I often work in extreme cold (0 F to -20 F) and yup, the one I had on my Phillips 4x5 crystalized in a couple of places. I was lucky that it didn't happen in a critical location, like dead center, but it was annoying.

[rfesk]

This is a heads-up on the Maxwell screen used on a Busch Pressman. I have one and love it. However, on my Pressman the glass cover plate could not be used when the fold out hood was installed also. (The assembly is just too thick.)

I cut a piece of Mylar from a sheet protector and used that instead.

However, I had to ask Bill to send me a flatter screen than the original one he sent me because without the glass plate installed the screen bowed out slightly. The original one would have been fine with the glass cover plate installed which would have corrected for the slight bow.

[Sergio Caetano]

Bossreen does not resist to temperatures above 30 C . Bubbles will be formed inside .