Cut corners on a Maxwell screen?

[joshdaskew]

Hi, I received a Maxwell screen quite a few months back and really love it and think it is a valuable and neccesarry tool for the type of work I do in large format (shooting portraits wide open). I also shoot landscapes, architecture etc etc but the one thing that kills me about it, is the massive amount cut off the corners as part of the screens design!

Was just wondering what the purpose of this is? I have heard that it is harder to break if the corners are cut and the other reason has something to do with being able to see vignetting with movements (or something like that). To be honest I dont do crazy amounts of movements and sometimes none at all... I would much prefer to see the whole image. I used to have a Linhof Technika and dont remember this being a problem at all.

Anyone with a shared experience or any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!! Best Regards Josh

[Lachlan 717]

Few reasons. Here are a few:

*So that you can check vignetting with dark/wide lenses.
*To allow fresh air into the bellows chamber, reducing moisture.
*To allow easier extention/retraction of the front standard.

All in all, though, it's really about the first point.

Enjoy your travels!

[joshdaskew]

Aaahh nice one, am definitely willing to sacrifice that option though as with the cut corners I am not seeing what is in the edges, whether it be vignetting or not! Think I would rather have vignetting on the very odd occasion that i would be using such wide lenses with movements.

Also, I just checked the gridlines on the Maxwell screen and (6x6,6x7,6x9 and 6 x 12) and they all seem to be significantly smaller than the Sinar plate that came with the roll film holder and they both seem to be smaller that the format would suggest (ie 6x7 format in both is smaller than 6cm and 7cm) Anyone know what the actual film dimensions are? There is no point in me trying to shoot portraits on a reduced format if I am not seeing the whole picture..

Ok, thanks so much again. Best Regards Josh

[ki6mf]

Be careful of the cut corners. In theory if you can look through you cut corner and still see a portion of the lens you will not have vignetting. I found that if I can see a small fraction of the lens, like a crescent moon I still will get a bit of vignetting in the corners of my negative. to do this you need to look through all four corners of the screen.

[Bob McCarthy]

I might offer a few comments. When using the clipped corner to view the diaphragm, seeing it circular is appropriate. Any crescent means some vignetting. However this is at taking aperture. If you see a crescent, stop down until circular. That is minimum aperture w/o vignetting.

Secondly a view camera is not a slr. Taking the picture while looking at the gg is not workable, obviously. The gg is for focusing and placement of the plane of focus. Lines define the captured area. But as you are in front of the camera, you should look at the scene directly for what is being shot, including what is being captured in the corners.

Bob

[timparkin]

I might offer a few comments. When using the clipped corner to view the diaphragm, seeing it circular is appropriate. Any crescent means some vignetting. However this is at taking aperture. If you see a crescent, stop down until circular. That is minimum aperture w/o vignetting.

Secondly a view camera is not a slr. Taking the picture while looking at the gg is not workable, obviously. The gg is for focusing and placement of the plane of focus. Lines define the captured area. But as you are in front of the camera, you should look at the scene directly for what is being shot, including what is being captured in the corners.

Bob

Am I understanding what you are saying as "The ground glass is not meant for composition"?! Really!?

Tim

[Bob McCarthy]

Of course it's used for composition, but missing elements caused by clipped corners, subject expression, the "moment" does not occur in real time through the gg was my point.

I don't see clipped corners as any way detrimental and I believe advantageous to managing the image circle, but that is an opinion not a fact for all.

Really,

Bob