brighter groundglass question

[Jan_6568]

I have Darkroom Innovations groundglass on my 5x7 Century Grand. It is pretty dim and I am looking for a replacement one but I do not want to spend too much money. So my question is quite simple: do you think Satin Snow would be brighter then Darkroom Innovations (OK - Darkroom in the name suggests it woould :)

regards,

Jan

[Capocheny]

Jan,

I've got SatinSnow gg on all my cameras... so you might say I think they're a pretty decent gg for the dollar value.

Of course, if you have the dollars... there are always the Maxwell Screens and others. Sorry, I can't speak to the Darkroom Innovations screen though.

Cheers

[matthew blais]

I have SS glass on my three 4x5's...Made an improvement, so then
got one (SS) for the 8x10 Master View, which actually was not as clear or bright as the original Master view glass, which was 50 years old or so.... I say "was" 'cause I broke it in a moment of superior stupidity. Arrgh!

My 4x5's are brighter then the 8x10, and I can't reason that!
So I will be getting a fresnel for the Master view soon.

[dyuhas]

No compaints about my Maxwell.

Dave Yuhas
Pacifica, CA

[Jan_6568]

Thank you for advices. May be one of you could compare Satin Snow to Tachihara GG, I have a 4x5 Tachihara and it is a way brighter then Darkroom Innovation. What do you think?
I am not sure but I think Maxwell is much more expensive then SS so this is noy an option for me, at least now.

Jan

[Brian Ellis]

I perhaps shouldn't say anything since I've never used a Satin Snow glass but I have used a Tachihara. I'd be very surprised if the Satin Snow is as bright, or even close to being as bright, as the Tachihara. That isn't intended to knock the Satin Snow glass, it's just that the Tachihara uses a Fresnel lens to achieve its brightness and the Satin Snow is a plain ground glass, no Fresnel. There are advantages and disadvantages to a Fresnel and many people don't like them but they do add a lot of brightness. However, I don't think you'll find any third-party Fresnel screens that are in the Satin Snow price range. The third party Fresnels such as Beattie and Maxwell sell in the $150 - $250 range, I think the Satin Snow is about $10.

FWIW, the person who runs Satin Snow recently posted a message in APUG to the effect that delivery times are now running 8 - 10 weeks IIRC.

[Ron Marshall]

I have a Bosscreen that is wonderful, but for the price you can't beat Satin Snow, and I'm very happy with that as well, noticably brighter than my stock Sinar GG.

[Dan V]

I can't speak to the DI screen, but I found the Satin Snow screen brighter than the stock screen on my 4x5 Tachihara. And for the money, there's no better buy in LF equipment.

[Jan_6568]

I can't speak to the DI screen, but I found the Satin Snow screen brighter than the stock screen on my 4x5 Tachihara. And for the money, there's no better buy in LF equipment.

Dan, thank you very much - comparison you make between SS and Tachihara stock screen gives me an impression what to expect. Very helpful.

Brian - I have no experience myself, but I was told that Fresnel lens would only brighten the corners of the screen when using wide angle lenses. Otherwise it would be useless. On the other hand I also heard that it is all the way around and Fresnel lens would just make the screen brighter regardless of the lens. I was always using the screens I got with my cameras so I have never experimented with adding or removing Fresnel. Would someone, who has own experience, clarify that to me?

Jan

[Ron Marshall]

There is an article on the front page of this site which discusses fresnel lenses:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/gg.html

[Brian Ellis]

I can't speak to the DI screen, but I found the Satin Snow screen brighter than the stock screen on my 4x5 Tachihara. And for the money, there's no better buy in LF equipment.


That's very surprising. How old is your Tachihara? Is the screen that's on it the original screen? The screen on my Tachihara purchased new around 1997 was very bright, at least as bright (in my memory anyhow) as the Maxwell that I now use. If the Satin Snow is brighter and also doesn't share the usual disadvantages of Fresnels, that would make it pretty much the clear choice for viewing screens. No sense paying $250 for a Maxwell if there's a non-Fresnel screen that's as good or better for $10.

"I have no experience myself, but I was told that Fresnel lens would only brighten the corners of the screen when using wide angle lenses. Otherwise it would be useless. On the other hand I also heard that it is all the way around and Fresnel lens would just make the screen brighter regardless of the lens"

Most Fresnels are very much affected by the focal length of the lens. For that reason some Fresnels are designed to be used only with wide angle lenses. The Fresnel that was on my Tachihara sometimes would go dark with wide angle lenses. It's been a quite a while since I used that camera and someone more current can correct me but it's my recollection that with my 90mm lens it was the center that stayed bright and the area around it that turned very dark. The Maxwell I now use suffers no noticeable light fall off with an 80mm lens, the widest I've used it with. But see the message from Dan V quoted above - apparently the Satin Snow is very bright and since it isn't a Fresnel it shouldn't suffer from the problems many Fresnels have. Add to that the price of $10 compared say to the Maxwell's $250 or the $150 of the BosScreen and Beattie and the choice seems pretty obvious.

[Michael Graves]

Not sure having a fresnel is all that great for everybody. I just yanked the fresnel from my Toyo 8x10M and replaced it and the original ground glass with a Satin Snow. Personally I find the SS about three times easier to focus and compose than the original.


I perhaps shouldn't say anything since I've never used a Satin Snow glass but I have used a Tachihara. I'd be very surprised if the Satin Snow is as bright, or even close to being as bright, as the Tachihara. That isn't intended to knock the Satin Snow glass, it's just that the Tachihara uses a Fresnel lens to achieve its brightness and the Satin Snow is a plain ground glass, no Fresnel. There are advantages and disadvantages to a Fresnel and many people don't like them but they do add a lot of brightness. However, I don't think you'll find any third-party Fresnel screens that are in the Satin Snow price range. The third party Fresnels such as Beattie and Maxwell sell in the $150 - $250 range, I think the Satin Snow is about $10.

FWIW, the person who runs Satin Snow recently posted a message in APUG to the effect that delivery times are now running 8 - 10 weeks IIRC.

[Wenbiao Liang]

How a Bosscreen compare to Fresnels such as Beattie or Maxwell ? I have one for my Tachihara, it is bright, but I have never used fresnels on 4x5, so I can not compare.

Thanks,
Wenbiao

[Kevin Klazek]

I have a newer Tachi with the fresnel screen and a Deardorff 5x7 with the SS glass. The Tachi screen is definitely brighter than the SS, but the SS is not that much dimmer. The gg that was on the Dorff was at least 1 to 2 stops dimmer than the SS. I am a big SS fan. For the money you cannot go wrong with SS.

[Jan_6568]

Dear All, thank you very much for your comments.

Jan