The new bellows work perfectly; I took them out today for a quick couple of photos in bright sun.
By the second photo, it had become overcast, but the good news is no light leaks and the rear frame seats just as it should.
The top corners are darkened in the first shot because I used excessive front rise, coupled with a little front tilt.
Overall, Rudy did a great job on the bellows, and I'd highly recommend using him for this kind of work.
Still checking GG registration, and my testing is so far inconclusive.
In the meantime, let's talk bags and cases for the 810M/MII.
It's a large camera, 14.5" x 15" x 6.5" (37cm x 38cm x 16,5cm) so finding a case or bag for it and a few 8x10 lenses can be tough.
What I've found works for me in the rolling cases is the Lowepro Pro Roller x300 AW.
You can easily fit the camera, 4-6 8x10 lenses and lots of accessories, including a 17" laptop and still have some room left somewhere. Nice big wheels, too, and a well-made case.
For a backpack, I really love the EVOC CP35L.
Camera, three big lenses, extras and a 15" laptop are easy to fit here. Very comfortable to carry for long stretches, tough, and beautifully made. Thanks, Anthony!
Here's a photo with my stuff in it, just to show that it's not packed in like sardines in a can. The lenses are large, two of them are in Copal/Compur 3 shutters, and mounted on Technika boards.
The pack is upright, so things are drooping a little, but nothing moves in there when you're walking or hiking about.
Let's talk ground glass. For future reference, the size of the 810M/MII's screen is 206mm x 251mm, and you have a margin of 1mm smaller.
The standard-issue Toyo ground glass is good: bright enough, and through a 5x loupe, the grain is nicely in the middle, i.e., not too coarse, not too fine.
I broke mine over the summer and went with a Yanke, which is a very good screen; brighter than the Toyo screen, and about the same ease of focusing.
Since I use a 10x loupe (my eyes aren't great), most screens seem too coarse to me, and focusing precisely has always been an issue.
Until now.
I ordered a generic plain GG off eBay that was already cut to the proper Toyo size, and sent it to a friend of mine who makes his own GGs.
He makes a beautiful screen: very fine-grained, velvety smooth, a little darker overall, but a real pleasure to focus.
He graciously offered to add his own work to the generic screen, and I love the results.
Now, checking focus is easy, everything SNAPS into focus, clearly, and without any doubt.
It's hard to tell from this photo how good the screen is (I'll have to take another photo tomorrow in daylight), but usually, the lens is clearly visible through the screen; other GGs give you a soft, blurry lens, which is less distracting, but this screen offers quite a sharp view of the lens in front of you. The reason is that the grain is so small, and that makes for brilliant focusing.
A nice feature of the 810M/MII is the protective GG cover; many 8x10 (and smaller) cameras have this. Here's what I did with mine.
The 810M/MII starts life with a green particle board for GG protector:
It protects, but it doesn't do anything else.
A suggestion I got from a forum member was to make one out of clear acrylic, which I thought was a pretty smart idea.
That way, you can compose, even rough-focus, with the GG protector on, removing it only for critical focusing.
When I was at the plastics store, I bought an 8x10 acrylic sheet, and had them cut it to spec for the camera; cost was about $22.00.
Then, I used hockey tape (it's like black gaffer tape, but stretchier, and a LOT cheaper) to cover the edges; I made sure that the space inside the edges corresponded exactly to the dimensions of 8x10 film.
Why? Now I have an 8x10 frame for composing my shots so I don't have to run all over the place with camera and tripod.
The layer of tape makes the acrylic stay firmly in place, too; no more jiggling around.
Lastly, I traced a slightly smaller frame with a Sharpie, measured to whole plate size.
This is for shooting WPWP (whole plate wet plates), which I'll be doing soon, using a converted 8x10 film holder.
The frame lets me preview the whole plate-size composition in-camera, then I simply remove it if I need to focus critically.
So, there's a 3-in-1 GG protector, and no need to mark up your nice, clean ground glass screen.
Apparently the MII now comes with a black acrylic GG protector although mine came with the hard plastic type that clamps to both sides of the GG. I found this out when I purchased the 810G which didn't have the protector. I called Toyo service and they asked me if I wanted the green particle board or the black acrylic. Both were priced the same so I chose the acrylic and I'm glad that I did: It won't chip or break like the older particle board would. The price was $40.
Thomas
Great stuff Ari, thanks for sharing all your tips and tricks. I really like the one about the clear GG protector, right now I also have the green board one.
My EVOC bag came with some red padding blocks that I use on the sides of the camera to keep things snug.
My pleasure, Anthony; I went outside for about 90 minutes in -15˚C weather today, using the EVOC.
The bag fully loaded, with two film holders, weighs a little over 15kg, or about 34 pounds; the EVOC was comfortable and worked like a champ.
I am really glad that I got it, thanks again for a great recommendation.
Here is a manual for the 810M
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0O...ew?usp=sharing
Yes!Originally Posted by chacabuco
Thank you, Rob; I could never find a copy of this anywhere.
You're welcome. I just requested a copy from them a couple years ago and they sent the scan. Hope it is useful
Rob
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