Focusing cloth vs Folding Hood- Thoughts/ recommendations

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Grafmatic

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A while back, I bought an Intrepid 4 x 5 and assembled a system thanks in good part to excellent advice and guidance I received on these forums.
Unfortunately, I was greeted shortly after finishing assembling my system with a leukemia diagnosis so I’ve done very little with this system. My prognosis is fairly good, so I hope to be back behind the glass before too long.

Partly just because, and partly because of my condition, I always seem to be on a quest to save weight wherever possible. One option I am considering is buying the focusing hood accessory so I can shave off a couple pounds compared to carrying around a focusing cloth. But I am noticing that, while the fresnel screen makes the screen look brighter and more even, it actually makes focusing a little ambiguous. I was just wondering annyone has experience with focusing hoods versus focusing cloths, and whether the hood makes it harder to see the corners properly without a Fresnel screen.

I see the hood more on press type cameras, and I had a crown graphic when I started out, but it is long gone. So I am reaching out to the helpful folks here, of which there are quite a few!
 

BrianShaw

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Best wishes for a strong recovery from leukemia!

I've used the pop-up hood on a couple of Speed Graphic cameras. They are good for quick-and-dirty but don't really provide a lot of shading. So the viewing quality depends upon both the amount and angle of ambient lighting. Plus, they often make getting a loupe onto the glass more challenging. For most LF camera usage a darkcloth might be better since it can be wrapped to eliminate more extraneous light. And the good part is that they really don't weigh much. Actually, neither really weighs much. :smile:

Some folks have reported using focusing viewers like this. To me, that's often overkill and weighty.

 
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