Focusing cloth vs Folding Hood- Thoughts/ recommendations

Grafmatic said:

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!

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I have a hood for my Linhof and for my Toyo and use the same cloth on both. Overall, the hoods are simpler,faster and lighter but the cloth is better for focusing. Still whenever possible, I use the hood.

I use a reflex viewing hood that came of an old monorail and I also have a light nylon darkcloth. I use both at different times but I do prefer the darkcloth if I am traveling light and the viewing hood if I am working out of my truck. I build a light duty wooden case for the viewing hood that tucks in front of the seat. In fact, when I checked right now the viewing hood was in the truck cab and the darkcloth and the loupe is in the backpack.

Imagine that. Things are where they are supposed to be for once in my life. Except for the camera. It is sitting on the tripod in the hobby room but I doubt I would leave it behind if I were going out shooting...right? Right!!

Like Ralph, i have hoods for both my Linhof and my Ebony. They are great for quick composing and focussing, but ultimately need to be moved out of the way for critical focus/movements.

The Linhof is better in this respect as it hinges out of the way (like the folding hood), but the Ebony needs to have the hood (a modified Cambo T20) removed completely.

So despite having hoods, i still take my dark cloth with me.....it's one made by Paramo in the UK, very light, an elasticated collar at one end and a zipper/domes along the length.....it's also waterproof.

One thing that causes me problems when using the hoods is the cold air breeze causing my eyes to water, not a problem when under the dark cloth.

Mike

Since so much of my photography was done in the mountains during bad weather, any kind of enclosed viewing aid would have been hopeless due to condensation risk. Nor did I want any extra weight or bulk when backpacking.

gealto2 said:

My favorite is to use an old dark T-shirt. Combined with a white T-shirt on the outside is better in the summer sun for a while until the lack of ventilation gets you. Put you head through the neck hole and scrunch it up to wear it like a collar away from camera. At camera, pull the waist around the back of the camera with a clothes pin at the bottom and put a hand with magnifier through an arm hole. This makes an extremely dark, light weight dark surround that completely encloses you. Also very wind proof. I have a 34 inch waist, so can fit 4x5 or 5x7. You may need a larger or smaller size depending on your camera or body.

I also have a diy right angle finder for 4x5 that I keep messing with but rarely use.

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Wow, brilliant! I'm definitely going to try this, thanks!

T shirts, sweaters,etc = lint.

DREW WILEY said:

T shirts, sweaters,etc = lint.

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Are you saying Drew that you aren't a Lululemon devotee?

I have live cats as soft cuddly companions. Stitched together black cat skins would make the ultimate darkcloth for those who seek something which keeps giving over and over again, and makes possible a lifetime of endless negative and print retouching. Isn't that why most of us got into darkroom work to begin with?

The issue with lint is something I hadn't considered previously, but there's also a concern with static electricity charges attracting dust. Human hair on plastic can generate a static charge that can attract dust particles. This means a nylon or polyester dark cloth may not be the ideal choice for rubbing on your head.

Your bald pate won't help you either, since dry skin is similar to human hair in this respect. https://tcdsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/scroache/Sci Electricity/Materials that Cause Static Electricity.htm

In the mountains I was far more afraid of lightning up on the high passes than I was a static spark due to polyester. Actually, my favorite darkcloth is made of black Goretex, which has no such issue. And it's nice to know that one doesn't have to be bald to be a great photographer, or need a bent nose either.

I have gotten static sparks off cats on dry cold days.

Not intending to rub you the wrong way, Drew, but Goretex is a Teflon based material that can be highly negatively charged. Head hair and dry scalp will give up electrons easily to feed the Goretex addiction for them. If you've got any hair left up there, you could be a scary sight to others when you get back from a mountain trek. You may not have been hit by lightning, but you sure might look like it.

I have an 8" x 1" strip of self adhesive backed velcro attached to the top of the rear standard on my Sinar 4x5.
I then had the matching felt side of the velcro strip sewn on the edge of the dark cloth.
It works like a charm.

Blahh, blaah. I've spent entire nights in nylon and Goretex tents hunkered just 30 yards from where lightning was striking all night long, hour after hour, so frequently I could read a book. Cheap thrills, that's for sure, and not a bit of static as far as tents or parkas were concerned, but wonderful memories of the dragon roaring so near by. I'd often need to almost instantly set up in the nearest little grove of trees which didn't exhibit any past fire scar marks. Lighting is surprisingly predictable. Kept any metal like the pack or then aluminum Gitzo tripod at a safe distance, but those items otherwise common-sense sheltered.

Oh the lifetime stories I could tell about lightning, including some of its victims! I remember sitting around with the cowboys in the little dining area attached to the kitchen in the pack station I worked for the summer I was sixteen. The water tank was two thousand feet higher up the mountain, with a long galvanized pipeline running down. The wife of the owner had just stepped out of the kitchen when a lightning bolt hit somewhere way up above, and the kitchen sink suddenly exploded, instantly destroying that whole part of the building.

Speak for yourself, but I still have all my hair. None of it has either fallen off or burnt off. I once did encounter four climbers who had just come down from Pingora, a well known pinnacle in the Wind River Range in Wyoming, who were all leaning against a large boulder still looking wild-eyed and terrified, mumbling to themselves with all their hair still standing on end due to the static charge. Fortunately, no burns. They were trying to rappel back down on water-soaked rope, which behaved like an electrical cord, torture-tingling them where their harnesses fit (no elaboration needed), as well as giving them a distinct overall buzz. A clown act couldn't have done it better. I could cite numerous of fatal examples instead, however, if I wanted to.

There's something to be said for wearing a tin foil hat to shield your head from the dark cloth, but sadly, that would make the lightning risk even worse.

There's a right and wrong technique to that. Watch "The Green Mile" movie.