Stop Light Leaks - Use your dark cloth

[John Kasaian]

I know this is an older thread but do folks have recommendations for commercially available oversized dark cloths? Or good instructions for crafting your own?


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Steve Simmons has sewing instructions in his book Using the View Camera. My home made dark cloth is celebrating it's 21st birthday soon.

[Kleiny41]

That’s great! I use the Simmons book often.


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[Tin Can]

How big?


Harrison Silver Classic Dark Cloth is available in very big sizes.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/searc...SAAEgJcCfD_BwE

[Doremus Scudder]

My homemade darkcloth is white GoreTex fabric on the outside, lined with non-slip, lightproof black fabric. It has Velcro all around the edges, loops on one side, hooks on the other. It's about 3x4.5 feet (but you could choose any size you like). It's waterproof, cool in the sun and doubles as a reflector (white side), light absorber (black side), rain poncho and superman cape

I got the GoreTex fabric from an outdoor store online and shopped for the black fabric at the local fabric store. The edge sewing I had done by a shoemaker on his industrial sewing machine since my wimpy one wasn't up to the task of sewing through all the fabric plus the Velcro strips.

Best,

Doremus

[Gadfly_1971]

I'm a big fan of Wanderer Photogear dark cloths. They're handmade in a variety of fabrics and sizes. They also make film holder cases in a couple of sizes and configurations.

https://www.wandererphotogear.com/

[Pfsor]

The dark cloth's function from the dawn of photography was not originally to stop or prevent light leaks in bellows or film holders - they were constructed in such a way so as not to be leaking light in the first place. The dark cloth's function was to help photographers to compose and to focus the image on the ground glass in daylight, lenses were slow in that time.
Just saying.

[Vaughn]

Ah, to be photographing at the time when cameras, bellows and film/plate holders never leaked! Men must have been men, too! Humidity never changed and caused wood to shrink or swell. Bellows were branch and cactus proof, too, I hear. But I was only a little bigfoot back in those days. I thought about giving Watkins a big scare...give him a little inspiration since that is the point where he had his big wood box set up on sticks. But he had a fellow with rifle watching his back...hate those things.

The 100+ year old 5x7 camera I use now probably was a bit light-tighter 100 years ago! I need a bigger darkcloth for 11x14...the Calumet one I use for 8x10 is just barely sufficeint.

[bobbotron]

Ah, to be photographing at the time when cameras, bellows and film/plate holders never leaked! Men must have been men, too! Humidity never changed and caused wood to shrink or swell. Bellows were branch and cactus proof, too, I hear. But I was only a little bigfoot back in those days. I thought about giving Watkins a big scare...give him a little inspiration since that is the point where he had his big wood box set up on sticks. But he had a fellow with rifle watching his back...hate those things.

The 100+ year old 5x7 camera I use now probably was a bit light-tighter 100 years ago! I need a bigger darkcloth for 11x14...the Calumet one I use for 8x10 is just barely sufficeint.

Haha, people probably just dealt with all that back then, and new how to mitigate it. I'm sure people complained about this stuff back then too!

[Vaughn]

Haha, people probably just dealt with all that back then, and new how to mitigate it....

By keeping their darkcloth over the camera! LOL!

[Willie]

The Morley Baer wrap. His answer to light leaks with his old 8x10.