Canham DLC 4x5 Ground Glass Brightness

[IanBarber]

I have been lent a Canham DLC 4x5 camera to try and entice me into LF.

The first outing today was meant to be in the landscape but as it has not stopped raining all day, I decided to go in to the local church. The main issue I had was just how dark the ground glass appeared to be, in-fact, i had to abandon 2 compositions simply because I could not see everything clear enough.

I appreciate I am not fully conversant with viewing through such a setup under a dark cloth and maybe it's just me and this is the way it is.

I was just wondering if anyone else owns this particular camera and how you find the brightness of the ground glass.

[karl french]

You don't mention the focal length and aperture of the lens you were using. That makes a huge difference. I think people consider the DLC to have a fairly bright ground glass, especially since there is supposed to be fresnel present.

[IanBarber]

You don't mention the focal length and aperture of the lens you were using. That makes a huge difference. I think people consider the DLC to have a fairly bright ground glass, especially since there is supposed to be fresnel present.

Sorry, the focal length is 150mm and the widest aperture is f/5.6

[djdister]

Sorry, the focal length is 150mm and the widest aperture is f/5.6

Hmm, that's not too slow a lens. Are you sure the DLC has the original Canham ground glass/fresnel installed?

[IanBarber]

On the lower left corner of the ground glass it does say Keith Canham from memory. Maybe I am just not really sure how the images look on the glass having nothing to compare it with

[Peter Lewin]

Sorry if this is a foolish question, but are you focusing wide open? I have a DLC and have never found the GG particularly dark, i.e. similar to both my Wista and Sinar and very workable.

[Bob Salomon]

And, does it have the Fresnel lens installed?

[IanBarber]

Yes there is a fresnel installed. I am beginning to think that the room in which I am doing my still life is just not bright enough, does this make sense

[Daniel.E]

Are you doing all the focusing and composing at f5.6 and then stopping down to whatever you want to be at?

[IanBarber]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcJgUTZCOSY

This is a quick video from under the dark cloth. The light source is a window to the right

[dasBlute]

kind of what I'd expect inside a church, with only window light from a cloudy sky... it also takes minutes for eyes to dark adjust...

I carry a really bright LED flashlight for such occasions, to be placed at different locations in the scene and used for focusing, or even the rare light painting...

still, all the effort is worth it, softlight can make amazing images...