Any good viewing hood solutions for Horseman 612?

Fragomeni

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I truly love the Horseman 612 system but the single most overlooked aspect of it is the lack of viewing hood for the ground glass. It’s manageable with my 90mm but the ground glass is practically useless with the 35mm. Just wondering if anyone has come up with a good solution? I may make a pop up hood (like Graflex/Horseman/Linhof or may modify a 6x9 right-angle viewer to fit but wanted to see if others have addressed this. Any ideas?
 
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Fragomeni

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fatso said:
I use a BTZS dark cloth and a custom modified ground glass with fresnel made by skgrimes. Works great even with the 35mm
Click to expand...

I’m very curious about your ground glass with fresnel. I’ve tried two fresnels (purchased on eBay) with the stock ground glass and neither made much improvement. What is custom/ modified about the ground glass / fresnel in the case of what SK Grimes provides you? Any chance you can take a picture of the ground glass/ fresnel illuminated by the 35mm in normal room light?
 

Paul Ozzello

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I'll try taking a picture in the next few days. I think the fresnel maybe be made by maxwell and it sits in front of the ground glass (between the glass and lens) Skgrimes regrinds/files the aluminum mount so that the glass and fresnel sit back further and can focus accurately.
 
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Fragomeni

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Craig75 said:
Ahh found it

https://www.silvestricamerashop.it/...-magnifying-glass-in-leather-bellow-6x12.html
Click to expand...

Theoretically this would be what I’m looking for but that is a square bellows and looks like it’s for their 6x7/9. Strangely, even the image in the pdf you linked shows the square version next to the 6x12 and it’s clearly of a size that wouldn’t cover the 6x12 glass. I wonder if they just used that for the promo shot because they didn’t have the 612 version on hand. Strange choice on their part. If I can find a picture to confirm there is actually a 612 version that actually covers the full dimensions of the glass, I might look for one (although their listed price is pretty insane for a ground glass hood — I can make one for a fraction of that cost).
 
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Fragomeni

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I’m visiting my family currently and going through some boxes of spare parts I’ve had stored here and just found an old stock bellows (probably for an old Kodak folder) that looks like it’s the perfect size to match the dimensions of the Horseman 612 ground glass back. This may solve it. I’ll start working on it when I get back home. It should achieve exactly that the Silvestri aims to do with the correct size/dimensions to cover the full ground glass. I just need to decide if I want to add a magnifier (which isn’t really needed) or just an eye cup (which is probably what I’ll do). I’ll post pics when I have something mocked up.
 

Paul Ozzello

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Sorry for the delay @Fragomeni here are some samples of fresnel vs no-fresnel with the 35mm APO Grandagon :

With Fresnel


Without fresnel


Close-up with fresnel:


I'd be interested to see what you come up with. A reflex finder for the 612 or 617 similar to the one made for the Hasselblad SWC would be a really nice accessory.
 
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