Rolleiflex Glass Back?

[hiroh]

Does anyone here use a glass back? It's supposed to keep the film flat and make the image sharper, but my negatives are already pretty sharp, so I’m not sure how much better it could get. There must be a reason this thing exists.

I'd love to hear from anyone who owns a glass back, and did it actually improve your sharpness?

 

[JPD]

I haven't, but those who have did report a slight improvement of corner to corner sharpness. It should be similiar to using the plate back on the camera, using glass plates or thick sheet film. You need a camera that can use the flat glass and a special back, and keep the glass free from dust particles. Even if you are in a clean room skin cells might fall off your fingers or hair while you're loading the camera.

Even if the flat glass is coated there could be problems with reflections causing ghosting similar to halation due to the glass surfaces so close to the fim.

There aren't many examples of it in use:

Rolleiflex 2.8F Planar 80mm f/2.8

Explore this photo album by David Davidoff on Flickr!

www.flickr.com

 

[hiroh]

Oh, ok, I didn’t realize it would increase the risk of dust even more. That’s reason enough for me to skip it. Thanks for the tip!

Btw, I can't see any difference between these photos and mine taken without the glass back, at least not on these scans looked on the screen.

 

[Kodachromeguy]

I have also read of static marks in cold and dry weather, but I do not know of examples. The original Leica M3 had a glass pressure plate, which also had static issues in dry weather. Leitz changed it to metal.