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View Full Version : Show me your dark/focusing cloth design? (I want some ideas)



l2oBiN
30-Sep-2010, 12:35
Hello. I would like to make a dar/focusing cloth for a 4x5 camera. I have a design in mind but, I am sure many people have gave it a lot more thought than myself. So, I am interested in seeing what other people have come up with. Here is your chance to show off your design.

Please include as much detail as you can (eg, materials, shape, sewing cut/plan), so that it would be easy to reconstruct.

Thank you all in advance. I look forward to seeing the interesting designs.

memorris
30-Sep-2010, 13:10
My favorite design is white blackout cloth on one side and black velvet on the other. Small lead weights in the corners and velco strips along one side. I have 2 that my wife made and I wish they were large enough for the 8X10

Bruce Barlow
30-Sep-2010, 13:14
Go to Target (or WalMart, but my wife won't let me shop there) and find a $3 black T-shirt. Get an XXL or larger. Stretch the neck over the back of the camera. Voila! Light, cheap, highly usable. Small enough to be relatively unaffected by wind. Stays on the camera. Completely surrounds the GG. Stores compactly. Easily washable after several years of use. No labor on my or my wife's part in making. Cheaper than buying cloth to make one. Not heavy enough to be really hot. Not big enough to become a sail and blow the camera over in the wind (like my old one did once...)

My 8x10 cloth has an elastic band that fits the back of Norma, and it's BIG, and HEAVY. probably 5x6 feet before making the elastic loop. Black on one side, white on the other, heavy cotton fabric, weighted corners (washers sewn in). I like it, but the T-shirt is outstanding for 4x5.

Maris Rusis
30-Sep-2010, 15:35
My latest focussing cloth is the standard black one side, white the other with a useful extra: a cloth measuring tape sewn in along one edge. No more guessing at those pesky bellows extension numbers!

Daniel Stone
30-Sep-2010, 15:46
white blackout cloth(for making blackout curtains) on one side(wait for a Joann's/fabric store 50% off sale to buy it), and black nylon on the other side(inside). Doesn't get sweaty like velvet does, but is light, and folds up very small. I make one that is big enough for my 8x10 camera, and use it on both the 4x5 and the 8x10. I had some small hi-carbon steel pellets that I sewed into the corners(yes, I sewed it myself :)).

beats spending $50-90 on a cloth from Harrison...

oh.. and mine is 5'x5'

time not included(just material costs: $15)

-Dan

Winger
30-Sep-2010, 16:22
My mom and I used the silver fabric for covering ironing boards on one side and a black woven fabric on the other (usually the inside). On one end, we put a cord through through a hem and it can be cinched up around the back of the camera. Along the contiguous sides with that end, we put velcro so the whole thing can be made into a tube of darkness. It works well, though it messes up my hair. It usually ends up as a cape when I'm not looking through the camera.

BarryS
30-Sep-2010, 16:28
My latest focussing cloth is the standard black one side, white the other with a useful extra: a cloth measuring tape sewn in along one edge. No more guessing at those pesky bellows extension numbers!

Brilliant!

Daniel Stone
30-Sep-2010, 16:41
... It usually ends up as a cape when I'm not looking through the camera.

so we can call you "super shooter" now ;)?


-Dan

Heroique
30-Sep-2010, 16:42
I’m another “poor-man’s darkcloth” person.

I use an Adirondack-style windbreaker, tightening its waist (w/ cinch cord) around my 4x5 Tachi’s camera back, and slipping my head through the zippered neck.

When I use a loupe, I zip-open the V-neck a little more so I can fit my forearm inside. My other arm operates the camera. Depending on movements, I might have to switch arms. A little clumsy, but I’ve gotten used to it.

The windbreaker is light-weight, light-tight, easy to pack, breathable & water resistant. So if it rains, I wear it. Or I might slip it over my camera in hostile environments.

The biggest drawback – I always end-up with static-crazy, disheveled hair.

:(

Sirius Glass
30-Sep-2010, 17:24
Now I feel badly, I got an all black used traditional one with snaps and Velcro for $7US, but you guys have black and white ones ... I am so left out! <<sniff>>

vinny
30-Sep-2010, 18:40
I'm a two t shirt user. White one sewn to a black on one the inside. I stretch the neck over my head though.

baronvonaaron
30-Sep-2010, 19:38
i just use an old, ratty blazer i got at a goodwill. the pockets are large enough to hold my film, a loupe, a notebook, and a light meter.

Tony Lakin
1-Oct-2010, 00:41
I found it very easy to convert a large changing bag that I purchased cheaply on Ebay.

Frank Petronio
1-Oct-2010, 04:31
I used to own official dark cloths and think there is a still an old one in the basement. It's a ridiculous waste to fret over such a silly thing.

Jacket, t-shirt, towel, I do fine with whatever is at hand.

People go through the trouble to make a completely dark one then they complain about condensation on their GG and end up sweating to death inside.

Or they spend way too long futzing under a dark cloth when they should be moving around looking for a better shot.

Go without and try it and learn to save yourself the hassle of bringing another piece of gear. Same applies to all the various viewers and angle attachments, nothing but impediments and distractions....

Grow a pair and shoot!

desertrat
1-Oct-2010, 10:35
Another vote for the cheap black t-shirt. Wrap the large end around the back of the 8X10 Seneca, stick my head in through the neck hole, and bring in the focusing loupe through one of the sleeves.

IanG
1-Oct-2010, 12:02
I used the old dark green coloured velvet curtains my mother retired from use in the early 70's, I remember them as a kid in the 50's :D

I made 3 and dyed them all black in the mid 70's, I lent the best to another photographer here in Turkey 3 months ago when he came to stay, then gave it him. Shock, horror the flea bitten by now faded to a patchy burgundy dark cloth was stolen from the back of his car :)

Luckily I have new manufacturing source . . . . . . . .

Ian

ki6mf
2-Oct-2010, 02:52
i have an extra large film changing bag that i Use if I leave it a home by mistake I use my sweater or jacket if its a warm day I have been known to pull my shirt over the camera of course that is is making the public suffer fro my art!

Sirius Glass
2-Oct-2010, 06:15
i have an extra large film changing bag that i Use if I leave it a home by mistake I use my sweater or jacket if its a warm day I have been known to pull my shirt over the camera of course that is is making the public suffer fro my art!

Wouldn't that cause a sex riot? :eek:

jan labij
8-Oct-2010, 09:08
One winter, afew years ago, I got caught in a blizzard on my way back from Texas. Truck stop had flannel shirts, insulated with black nylon cloth interior. I found it worked great as a camera focus cloth too. And if it gets cold, just put it on!

Richard Mahoney
8-Oct-2010, 18:02
Heavy dark blue table cloth with a light checked table cloth roughly the same size sewn on top. Held together with four domes attached by a local saddler. I'm hoping that if I ever have to set up in the middle of the road I'll be seen. Imagine it could also double as a picnic blanket ...

http://camera-antipodea.indica-et-buddhica.com/about/equipment/cambo-legend-with-dark-cloth.jpg


Best,

Richard

MIke Sherck
8-Oct-2010, 18:12
When I started in LF I invested an evening watching TV and sewing (by hand!) a traditional dark cloth: white outside, black inside. I still have that one and it gets used with my 8x10 camera.

A couple of years ago my oldest daughter decided she wanted to do something personal for my birthday and had me pick out some fabric, from which she sewed me a new dark cloth. I use this one with my 4x5 camera and now I don't have to swap them back and forth when I switch outfits! This one looks like I'm on fire: I chose it to get as far as I could from the boring old 'white on one side, black on the other' look.

Mike

Heroique
8-Oct-2010, 21:02
...This one looks like I'm on fire: I chose it to get as far as I could from the boring old 'white on one side, black on the other' look.

I need one like that for hunting season!

Your photo proves we all look like four-legged animals when we’re under the darkcloth.

The “hunter-orange” fabric would make me feel safer in the woods.

;)

Oren Grad
8-Oct-2010, 21:33
Heavy dark blue table cloth with a light checked table cloth roughly the same size sewn on top. Held together with four domes attached by a local saddler. I'm hoping that if I ever have to set up in the middle of the road I'll be seen. Imagine it could also double as a picnic blanket ...

http://camera-antipodea.indica-et-buddhica.com/about/equipment/cambo-legend-with-dark-cloth.jpg


Best,

Richard

Very cool. Maybe you can license the idea to Fred Newman for a special-edition BTZS hood. :)

Noah B
10-Oct-2010, 19:05
I've been using a blazer jacket the past few days with my 8x10. How dark does the black t-shirt get when looking at the GG? I need to remedy something this week, been wanting to make one but I've no sewing machine.

MIke Sherck
10-Oct-2010, 19:40
I need one like that for hunting season!

Your photo proves we all look like four-legged animals when we’re under the darkcloth.

The “hunter-orange” fabric would make me feel safer in the woods.

;)

The thought had occurred to me. Whether I'm protecting myself with high- visibility or just making myself a better target worries me, though.

Robert Crigan
15-Oct-2010, 04:15
I've had many dark cloths made over the years. Here are a few things I've learned:
1. Never put weights in the corners. In a decent wind they at best painful, at worst damaging to the camera.
2. Don't use velvet, it's too heavy. Lighter material that can be folded up and tucked into a jacket pocket of a corner of the camera bag is good.
3.Sew a few pieces of velcro at strategic points to keep the bottom edges pulled in under the camera and under your chin. Helps keep things dark.
4. Don't bother with a white outer surface. It shows the dirt. Silk or satin in bright red or blue fits my taste.
Good luck