Ground glass for Calumet C1: need advices

[Marco Frigerio]

Hi everybody
I need some advices from this wonderful community!

I have to replace the ground glass of a Calumet C1 8x10".
At the moment I have 3 options and my main doubts are about thickness, I mean, I don't want to have out of focus images because of the ground glass:

- an ebay item ( http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3874735157 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3874735157) ), it looks quite promising but I wrote to the seller and he told me that he doesn't know if it is an original C1 groundglass, maybe yes or maybe no, so I fear about the thickness issue.

- ordering it at Satin Snow Ground Glass, I think that they can't make mistake about thickness. The only problem is that they have a backorder of 4 week.

- Calumet has new and original ground glass for the C1, so with Calumet I can't go wrong, but they're quite expensive (129$)...the pro in this case is that I have to purchase from Calumet a Copal 1 lensboard too, so I might save on the shipping costs.

Any comments, suggestions, especially on points 1 and 2 and my thickness paranoia ;))))))), will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Marco

[Michael Kadillak]

Thickness is a non event because the face of the ground glass where it is either chemically etched or ground with an abrasive is where you focus.

Get the least expensive ground glass that you can find within your time frame or make your own. I have yet to use a ground glass that did not do the intended job.

Cheers!

[Moe_4073]

I can vouch for Satin Snow, nice product and they even include templates for marking (with a pencil on the ground side) their ground glass with grids/sighting frames. Cheers,

[Gem Singer]

Marco,

Not to worry about the thickness of the glass. As long as the ground surface of the new glass is placed in the exact same position as the ground surface of the original glass, focus should not be affected. Thickness of the glass only becomes an issue when the glass it is too thick, or too thin, for the retaining clips to hold it in place.

I would purchase a genuine replacement ground glass from Calumet. That way, I would be maintaining the resale value of the C1 camera. Even though it is more expensive now, it might turn out to be a worthwhile investment in the long run.

[Dave Moeller]

The glass on the auction you listed sure does look like the original C1 glass. The seller lists the exact dimensions of the glass; do you have any part of your original glass to measure? Can you measure the opening in your camera back? If they're the same size, I doubt anyone would know the glass had been replaced.

$129 is a lot for a piece of glass, especially since you can get the SatinSnow for $20. I think it will be a very long time before a C1 is worth $109 more just because it has the original glass. I paid about $300 for a whole C1 in excellent condition.

The SatinSnow glass is great, but the wait can be painful. Once you get it, though, you'll be happy with the image you see on it. If I were in your position, I'd get the SatinSnow.