FINALLY

[David Hall]

...and just when I was about to splurge on a Canham. Which, actually, I still might do. But anyway...

Now that I have an up and running B&J 5x7, I am wondering about a fresnel for it. Every time I have obtained a fresnel for an LF camera, there happened to be one made specifically for it or it came installed.

Is this the kind of thing that is easy to do myself? Is it the kind of thing I can just cut down from a larger one and tape to the inside of the GG or something? I am worried about plane of focus first, then fit, then pretty (since it's a pretty beat up B&J anyway).

Thanks for whatever you can offer.

dgh

 

[Donald Miller]

David,
Congratulations on your 5X7. The focus shift problem will be averted if you mount the fresnel at the rear of the ground glass. That should be fairly easily accomplished by removing the GG retainers.

I came across a site at Camerascreens.com that handles 5X7 fresnels and they indicate that they will need the exact measurement of the ground glass or the existing fresnel in order to supply the proper one. I imagine that you should be able to measure the ground glass dimensions without removing the glass or the back.
Additionally I encountered a fellow up in Seattle, I believe, that handled about four different types of fresnel screens. I don't remember his name but his Ebay ID was Omni View. I bought a Dagor lens from him about a year ago. Maybe you can pull something up on him as well. Good luck.

 

[SteveGangi]

Congrats on the Burke and James. Go to Office Depot and get a "magnifying sheet" or whatever they call it for about 2 to 3 dollars. It is just a big plastic fresnel lens. Trim it down and then tape or Velcro it to the camera. Put it on, smooth side out, right over the ground glass on the outside. The rings go toward the front, smooth side to the rear.