Should lead fishing weights be sewn in the hem of a dark cloth?

[AtlantaTerry]

I bought a microfabric blackout curtain at Home Depot yesterday.

When the lady at my dry cleaning store cuts it and sews a hem, should she include some fishing weights in each corner?

Yes, I have read that a stiff breeze can flap the fabric with the potential of damaging the lens.
On the other hand, I don't want to struggle with it trying to keep out the light.

So I went over to my local WalMart to see what they might have in their fishing department. There I found a dizzying assortment of sizes and shapes of fishing weights.



I finally bought a package of 16 split weights for 94 cents. I plan to cut some fishing line into 4 short pieces then pinch 4 weights onto each. I will leave a gap in the middle so the seamstress will be able to form a corner in the fabric ending up with 2 of the weights on each side of each corner.

So, how much weight do you think I should have her sew into the hem? Or possibly none at all?

[Drew Bedo]

Fishing weights? Well I suppose so. My dark cloth has hardware stor washers in the corners. What abput a length of wire cable rolled into the seams? Might be too stiff though.

My regular 4x5 kit includes a BTZS hood which works pretty well and folds up small. The dark cloth is used on my 8x10.

[Two23]

I would think the odds of a dark cloth flapping and hitting a lens would be extremely small. They're on opposite ends of the camera for one thing.


Kent in SD

[Jac@stafford.net]

No for the fishing weights.

Consider an old military dress uniform trick - chain sewn into the cuffs (and for Gendarme of the Sixties, into the bottom of their cape.) Sew it into the hem, or corners as you wish. Given the great variety of sizes and weights of chain you should easily find just the right stuff. You can consider sticking magnets on the back/top of the camera to help hold them down. Stop by your Ace Hardware. Take a look.

[Struan Gray]

Your seamstress may already have the kind of lead weight tape used for curtain hems. It comes in various grades of heavy, and is conveniently encapsulated in a cloth cover. Flexible, and easy to include in a hem. Cheap on eBay if you have to get some yourself.

Weighting the entire hem gives a better drape.

[Michael E]

My 4x5" dark cloth has coins as weights in the corners. Just some weird old foreign currencies from trips long ago. You can't see it from the outside, but I know :-) Works well.

[goamules]

Bring along the biggest split shot you can find. But don't sew them in. Crimp them on one day if it's windy. I bet you'll never use them. Here in AZ, yeah....very windy. We had steady 25 knots wind yesterday, and gust to 40 knots. Trying to keep a darkcloth that is not bungied down to the camera is a pain, at times.

[LabRat]

But what about the GG!?!!!

Steve K

[neil poulsen]

But what about the GG!?!!!

Steve K

That's a good point, and it provides a criteria of how much weight would be appropriate. While including some weight to keep the edges from flapping, one wouldn't to include the kind of weight that could, unintentionally break the ground glass.

But for 4x5, and probably for 8x10, I've stepped away from dark cloths in favor of the BTZS sort of solution.

http://www.viewcamerastore.com/4x5-b...od-dark-cloth/

Mine was made by a concern other than BTZS, but it's the same idea. I also found that my previous "4x5" version (also non-BTZS) worked well for a 6x9 view camera, but was a little small for 4x5. Correspondingly, the one I use for 4x5 was designed for 5x7, and it works quite well on 4x5.

As to colors, my personal preference is for black on the inside and a medium gray on the outside. Some of them (BTZS?) are a stark white on the outside, which I dislike.

But of course, it's functionality that really matters. I would never let form trump functionality. (But something that looks really cool (), and makes me look really cool, that's a different matter.)

[BrianShaw]

Your seamstress may already have the kind of lead weight tape used for curtain hems. It comes in various grades of heavy, and is conveniently encapsulated in a cloth cover. Flexible, and easy to include in a hem. Cheap on eBay if you have to get some yourself.

Weighting the entire hem gives a better drape.

I've been using this solution since 1982. It works FANTASTIC.