How to take a pic when the ground glass is too dark to see!

[Ektar]

I was shooting indoors today in the communal entrance to a block of flats. The camera is a Speed Graphic with 127mm f4.7 Ektar. It was so dimly lit I could see virtually nothing on the ground glass.

I had to make use of my iPhone as a compositional guide. I've written about it here:
http://www.theonlinedarkroom.com/2014/01/shooting-in-dark.html

Not ideal! How do you guys get round this sort of thing? I'd be interested to know.

[Terry Christian]

Obviously, make sure the aperture of your lens is fully open.
Maybe try using a flashlight to illuminate your subject while composing? Or if your glass itself is rather cloudy and dim, have it replaced with a newer, more transparent piece.

[Daniel Stone]

Try and arrive earlier in the day(if possible). Focus/compose earlier when more light is available, then wait.
If in a place where lighting is almost always low(like a chapel, cathedral(that lets you set up a tripod!), or otherwise), you might be somewhat "buggered" altogether...
Supplemental illumination would be handy(like a bright flashlight), but I'd imagine that you don't have a team of sherpas to haul around piles of gear/generators(or electrical cords), etc..

-Dan

[Heroique]

If in a place where lighting is almost always low like a chapel, cathedral (that lets you set up a tripod!), or otherwise, you might be somewhat "buggered" altogether...

I've been is this situation a few times, and asked where to control the lights, promising to respect any worshippers!

If you're shooting color film, be sure to ask about the lighting types, often diverse and mixed together.

Just asking can solve a lot of interior lighting issues.

[Richard Wasserman]

This is a situation that makes you glad you have a brighter focus screen. My favorite is a Maxwell, but if your budget doesn't allow for that one of Steve Hopf's is very nice. I have recently photographed inside movie theaters with very little in the way of lighting—exposures in the 7-10 minute range—and never had a problem focusing. Is your current ground glass clean? It's amazing sometimes what soap and water can do.

[Ektar]

The ground glass is probably as bright as that particular one can be. I gave it a gentle clean when I bought the camera early last year and it looks good. The lighting in this stairwell is natural. It comes from a window in the roof at the very top. Here's one I did in 35mm (scan of an unspotted print - sorry!) as a notebook shot when I was looking at the subject for the first time. Strange how bright it looks in this pic...

107625

[brucetaylor]

This is a Speed Graphic, soooo all you need to focus is enough illumination for the rangefinder for focusing, right? And if you can see anything the top mounted or wire viewfinder is going to work. To me, that's sort of the beauty of the Graphics, you have all these options to get the shot in so many different situations. I read in your blog that you didn't trust these compositional/focus aids? If you set up the camera properly they work really well. Before reflex viewing was popular all sorts of cameras used these tools very effectively, even multimillion $ movie productions (Mitchell BNC sidefinder). Even the viewfinders can work very well, you have a focusing scale on the bed and distance markings on the finder for parallax.

A trick I like for focusing in dim light is a Mini Mag light with the lens assembly removed, the pinpoint of light is easy to focus on, even on a pretty dim groundglass. Hit the corners of the frame with a flashlight to find the edges of the frame.

Nice pic, BTW. Well worth the effort!

[cikaziva]

one more use of iPhone in LFP! we can use it as reflected light meeter, digital viewfinder, sun path software , depth of field and camera calculator, clinometer, bubble level, timer and now this. recently i stumble upon some youtube video: hipster kid is skinning "analog 6" (as he called 120) using iPad and iPhone, you can imagine the rest ...

[Jody_S]

I bring along a couple of LED flashlights for these situations. Turn it on, place it someplace you need in focus, and focus on the light. When you can distinguish individual LEDs in the light, you're in focus. Other suggestions from the forum have included laser pointers, though I personally find the dot too small to use at any distance. I've used the flashlights at 30-40ft. My biggest concern, at the time, was how to place them without leaving footprints in the snow; I eventually settled on focusing a pretend scene off to one side, then panning the camera to the scene I wanted to shoot.

[Tin Can]

Read this.

http://lommen9.home.xs4all.nl/kalart/page9.html

[Ektar]

Thanks for that Randy. The Kalart Focuspot would do the job but I've only got the bog standard version without light. Does the Focuspot come up often?

[Tin Can]

Put a search on eBay and buy them for $20 when they pop up. Some people even convert them to tiny laser, but people don't like laser spots on their body...

They work great and it is possible to set one up on any camera for a Big Shot type shuffle focus.


Thanks for that Randy. The Kalart Focuspot would do the job but I've only got the bog standard version without light. Does the Focuspot come up often?

[Ektar]

Big Shot type shuffle focus.

Brilliant phrase! I'll keep an eye out.

[Tin Can]

Not my phrase, an actual polaroid focus method with a Big Shot camera.

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Polaroid_Big_Shot


Brilliant phrase! I'll keep an eye out.

[AtlantaTerry]

About two months ago I was creating some portraits with my Crown Graphic and a 240mm f/5.6 lens just after sunset. I freaked out when I could not see the subject on the ground glass.

My solution was to guess at the composition. Then for sharp focusing, I had the fellow hold my 18650 Ultrafire CREE LED flashlight with the light beam aimed at his face. Once I was in focus, he placed the flashlight in his back pocket while I exposed two sheets of film.

The composition is OK but will be better if I crop a bit off one side.

›-›

Since I work on movies as Director of Photographer and/or Unit Stills Photographer, for several years now I have been wearing zoomable 18650-powered Ultrafire flashlights on my belt in a Nylon holster. They come in quite useful. I buy the Ultrafire CREE flashlights, batteries and accessories from various eBay vendors.

[Brassai]

This time of year, I am mostly a night. I use a Chamonix for 4x5. I have two tricks that work well but require camera to be on a tripod. First, to find the area that will be in the image, I look through the GG while slowly moving the beam of a MagLight from side to side. When I see the beam disappear, that's how I know where the edge of the image is, top/bottom and L/R. Second tip is I place a small flashlight in the scene where I want focus point to be, and focus on that. I remove the flashlight before taking the shot, obviously.

[Drew Bedo]

There is a built in light source for the range finder some models of Speed Graphic. The RF throws two beams of light that merge when the subject is in focus. Members of this board have written that they substituted a laser LED for the old flashlight bulb.

In similar situations, I tend to place a focus target with strongly contrasting bars or stripes in the composition, then shine a flashlight on it while focusing. Lock down the camera controles and take down the target.

Weegee prefocused at an anticipated distance and stopped down (hyperfocal technique).

[Tin Can]

Nice flashlight, but it needs another battery and charging system. I keep a tiny Fenix E05 on my keychain and use Sanyo AAA Eneloop battery system. The Sanyo AA and AAA fit a lot of things and save me lots on batteries. These new fangled LED flashlights are incredible. Bright and last a long time.

Maybe I need to put a Cree LED in a FocuSpot, safer than an Lazer.

another winter project...


About two months ago I was creating some portraits with my Crown Graphic and a 240mm f/5.6 lens just after sunset. I freaked out when I could not see the subject on the ground glass.

My solution was to guess at the composition. Then for sharp focusing, I had the fellow hold my 18650 Ultrafire CREE LED flashlight with the light beam aimed at his face. Once I was in focus, he placed the flashlight in his back pocket while I exposed two sheets of film.

The composition is OK but will be better if I crop a bit off one side.

›-›

Since I work on movies as Director of Photographer and/or Unit Stills Photographer, for several years now I have been wearing zoomable 18650-powered Ultrafire flashlights on my belt in a Nylon holster. They come in quite useful. I buy the Ultrafire CREE flashlights, batteries and accessories from various eBay vendors.

[smithdoor]

Graflex has a scale in feet to infinity just estimate your distance and dial your camera to the setting.
Most Speed and Crown have a build in rangefinder. This is what I use and faster than a SLR camera

Dave


I was shooting indoors today in the communal entrance to a block of flats. The camera is a Speed Graphic with 127mm f4.7 Ektar. It was so dimly lit I could see virtually nothing on the ground glass.

I had to make use of my iPhone as a compositional guide. I've written about it here:
http://www.theonlinedarkroom.com/2014/01/shooting-in-dark.html

Not ideal! How do you guys get round this sort of thing? I'd be interested to know.

[BradS]

Thanks for that Randy. The Kalart Focuspot would do the job but I've only got the bog standard version without light. Does the Focuspot come up often?

If your rangefinder is well adjusted for you lens, you can simply shine a laser pointer though the range finder and focus the spot...just point the laser pointer into the peep sight that you would normally look through on the range finder, then look at your subjedct and focus the spot that is projected through the range finder. I do not have one of those new LED flashlights but, they might work too.

[Ektar]

Thanks for all the great responses. Think I'll get a torch and make sure the rangefinder is accurate. That seems easier than trying to focus via the ground glass.

[claystevens]

Useful discusstion. New to LF photography. Hope I can learn more on this forum.:)

[Rollinhofuji]

I am also a fan of composing aids like a wire-frame "finder" - recently acquired the Ebony Titanium Viewing Frame. As my dealer said:" It makes a non-upside-down, extremely bright, 3D viewfinder with unsurpassed flare resistance" ;-)
For composition under difficult conditions you can pre-visualize the final framing extremely well. On the ground glass, I then only check the corners if everything is "in place", which works quite well even in extremely dark conditions (of course I also check focus on the GG).

[premortho]

If you have an American press camera (Graphic, B&J, Busch) with a Kalart or other rangefinder, the technique of shining an LED flashlight through the viewing port on the rangefinder while focusing the subject on the ground glass works really well. How ever, in my previous life as a newspaper photographer, I simply set the the focusing scale at 12 feet, lens at f16 or 22, and blasted away with a number 25 Press Sylvania bulb. Bingo! 12 feet is easy to figure, as it is twice most peoples height, so you just move up until the subjects base (or feet) are at a 45 degree angle to your eyes. And you are in focus.
Useful discusstion. New to LF photography. Hope I can learn more on this forum.:)

[Tin Can]

Wasn't it common to use flashbulbs all the time, even in daylight?

I'm old enough to have forgotten seeing any Press cameras in action, but I am sure I should have seen them somewhere...

Those darn miniature 35mm shooters were blocking my view.


If you have an American press camera (Graphic, B&J, Busch) with a Kalart or other rangefinder, the technique of shining an LED flashlight through the viewing port on the rangefinder while focusing the subject on the ground glass works really well. How ever, in my previous life as a newspaper photographer, I simply set the the focusing scale at 12 feet, lens at f16 or 22, and blasted away with a number 25 Press Sylvania bulb. Bingo! 12 feet is easy to figure, as it is twice most peoples height, so you just move up until the subjects base (or feet) are at a 45 degree angle to your eyes. And you are in focus.