best material for darkcloth?

[John Layton]

Love the t-shirt idea! ...and I'll definitely be saddling up that cow come Sunday!

[mike rosenlof]

my darkcloth is some kind of medium weight cotton twill. one white, one black, sewn together. very little light gets through. no velcro, elastic, weights or other features, just a big cloth square.

[denverjims]

I had been using one self-made of fairly heavy curtain blackout material but thought I'd go to a lighter nylon that would fold smaller & be lighter to carry. Big mistake for me!

Shooting on the mostly windy High Plains, lighter nylon made for distractions. Adding weights to the bottom helped some but the material around the camera and my head was fluttering constantly with the wind. I have since gone back to the heavier blackout material. Who knew the weight & stiffness would be a net plus?

[vinny]

I use the 2 t shirt method and a diy Ultrabounce cloth with magnets for my 8x10.

[Drew Wiley]

Weights plus wind equals risk of a broken groundglass or black eye. Velcro is smarter. T-shirts, denim, etc equals lint and heavy when wet. Guess you like spotting.

[moltogordo]

I have bought a couple of darkcloths - both black nylon on the heavy side, with elastics and such. They worked fine. Never tried gortex but I would think it would be super. However, I find a black fleece hoodie I have to be as good as a 'real' dark cloth.

I'm a big guy (4 or 5x, depending on the article) so there's lots of material there.

Perhaps the best system of all might be a prism viewfinder. Never used one on a 4x5, but I have one for my Mamiya C330 and it's really the cat's meow.

[LabRat]

I was shooting yesterday using an old thin (rayon?) B&J cloth... There was a stiff breeze,and it kept wrapping around my face, but I discovered something interesting...

Although not totally dark through the weave, I noticed A/ that the breeze blowing through it kept me cooler, and B/ I could see a little through it so I could be more aware of my surroundings around me... (Like that weird car over there with the guy checking me out...)

Hmmm....

Steve K

[denverjims]

....through it so I could be more aware of my surroundings around me... (Like that weird car over there with the guy checking me out...)

Hmmm....

Everyone - step away from the 'Reply' button!

[analoguey]

I'm curious about the reasoning for the black plus White layer Or silver/grey layers.
For reflecting heat away? Or something else?
Learnt from experience?

my darkcloth is some kind of medium weight cotton twill. one white, one black, sewn together. very little light gets through. no velcro, elastic, weights or other features, just a big cloth square.

I got a lightweight Nylon Taffeta Black/Silver from Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics.
Works for me -- very well.

QUOTE=Doremus Scudder;1250989]I prefer white Gore-Tex, lined with a black, non-slip material on the inside.

Best,

Doremus[/QUOTE]

I have 2 pieces of curtain black out cloth sewn together.
One Black, and one White.
However I would have preferred a Neutral Gray fabric rather than white.

[towolf]

My mother one time sewed a darkcloth for my father, but he was complaining about it fluttering in the wind.

I remembered that curtains used to have these cords with lead beads sewed into the hems.



My mother actually had some lengths of these and I was able to thread this cord through the seams on three sides. It makes the cloth relatively heavy, but it’s pretty nifty. Throw one side with a cord on top of the camera and it will stay there.