Schneider-itis: The Perennial Problem

[paulbarden]

Just FYI, the first coat of Sharpie will be translucent. But you can build it up with 2 more coats and it isn't. You work fast so you don't take off the coat underneath.

I think a Sharpie can be easily removed

Sharpie ink is easily removed with acetone.

[BrianShaw]

This discussion of shades/hoods thrills me. It happens so seldom. For my first few years of MF and LF photography I shot without them but for the past 45 years I always use one. Sometimes it seems like they are barely adequate because I don’t always fuss about optimization too much and it always seems that anything is better than nothing.

[xkaes]

Sharpie ink is easily removed with acetone.

Lighter fluid works just as well, often easier to get, and is less toxic -- but flammable!

[xkaes]

For my first few years of MF and LF photography I shot without them but for the past 45 years I always use one. Sometimes it seems like they are barely adequate because I don’t always fuss about optimization too much and it always seems that anything is better than nothing.

Lens shades are the cheapest way to improve results, but few shutterbugs actually use them. And those that do, usually use an inadequate one. Even the ones that come from the manufacturer are typically too short/wide. I discovered this years ago while using Minolta Rokkor-X lenses -- which came with very well-made, metal, felt-lined shades. While focusing at the minimum distance and stopping down the lens all the way, I found out that slightly longer lens shades worked fine -- without any image cut-off. So, I ended up using the 28mm lens shade on the 24mm lens, the 35mm lens shade on the 28mm lens, the 50mm lens shade on the 35mm lens, etc.

While 99.9% (?) of large format lenses don't come with lens shades, it's easy to test which one provides the best protection from stray light.

[Sal Santamaura]

...I think a Sharpie can be easily removed

Sharpie ink is easily removed with acetone.

Lighter fluid works just as well, often easier to get, and is less toxic -- but flammable!

Neither of those is necessary. Isopropyl alcohol (i.e. rubbing alcohol) works perfectly. Use a white paper towel or cotton swab.

While having no interest in dissuading Ari from the path he's chosen, for those who do wish to experiment, and for any other marking use, I've found Stabilo Write-4-all markers superior to Sharpies:

https://www.amazon.com/Stabilo-Write...000J6DACK?th=1

They lay down a more opaque black and, to my nose, don't exude smelly VOCs after their alcohol solvent evaporates like Sharpies do.

[Alan Klein]

Alan,

You might be able to modify the Toyo Field Compendium Hood which has pins that fit into holes on the front standard:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kHoQ5AAc8XZczK2e6

or a Wista Compendium Hood which clamps on to the top of the front standard of Wista metal field cameras. I think you could line the clamping part with rubber or velvet to avoid marring the wood of your camera.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/f2Ytnmqw9swZJmht7

Kumar

I wonder how my compendium for my Mamiya RB67 medium format camera would work?

As a separate question, what's the best way to find where to set the length for each lens? Don't movements and apertures affect this?

[xkaes]

As a separate question, what's the best way to find where to set the length for each lens? Don't movements and apertures affect this?

You've got to add width at the front of the shade as well -- a wide shade can be longer, of course -- but it's easy to test.

Just put the shade on the lens, focus to infinity, center the image on the screen, and stop down all the way. looking at something bright will help. Look at the corners for vignetting. Now shift in any direction and see how far you can go before the opposite corners start to darken.

You may have a lens with a very wide IC. You can get a shade to fit the entire IC -- or a shade for the maximum part of the IC that you expect to use.

You should also add in the maximum number of filters that you might use.

[B.S.Kumar]

I wonder how my compendium for my Mamiya RB67 medium format camera would work?

As a separate question, what's the best way to find where to set the length for each lens? Don't movements and apertures affect this?

The Toyo and Wista hoods can be adjusted to ensure that there is no vignetting with movements applied to the standards. The aim is to keep the front of the hood parallel to the lens standard. I think the Mamiya hood is not adjustable. But it would be better than nothing, as long as the image is not vignetted.

When used on view cameras, hoods must be adjusted for each image, depending on which movements are applied. The hood's position must be adjusted just before you close the shutter. Extend the hood until you see it entering the image area and back off just slightly. The adjustable hoods let you do this one side at a time.

Kumar

[Nodda Duma]

Neither of those is necessary. Isopropyl alcohol (i.e. rubbing alcohol) works perfectly. Use a white paper towel or cotton swab.

While having no interest in dissuading Ari from the path he's chosen, for those who do wish to experiment, and for any other marking use, I've found Stabilo Write-4-all markers superior to Sharpies:

https://www.amazon.com/Stabilo-Write...000J6DACK?th=1

They lay down a more opaque black and, to my nose, don't exude smelly VOCs after their alcohol solvent evaporates like Sharpies do.

NASA’s database for consumables:

https://outgassing.nasa.gov/



Low-outgassing materials meet two criteria:

TML (Total Mass Loss) < 1%
CVCM (Collected Volatile Condensable Materials) < 0.1%

The optical engineers and opto-mechanical engineers at work reference this often during the design phase. Nothing failing the low-outgassing criteria is used internally on optical systems we design and build. We’ll even bake-out stuff like edge blackening (4 hrs at 40-50C) if we’re the least bit paranoid.

[ridax]

Nothing failing the low-outgassing criteria is used internally on optical systems we design and build. We’ll even bake-out stuff like edge blackening (4 hrs at 40-50C) if we’re the least bit paranoid.

One of my Schneider lenses of the plasmat type builds up quite a bit of haze on its internal glass surfaces in every several years. I've got a habit to take it apart from time to time and wipe the hazing layer off. After that, the lens is fine again. I have no idea about the substance that evaporates somewhere inside the cell barrels to build the condensation on the glass up. The lens looks like it wasn't ever re-blackened.... though I'm not positively sure about that.