Which side does the ground surface of a ground glass face

jpazzz · Jan 16, 2015

Hello, I have another of my ignorant questions. Although I've been using Rolleiflex TLRs for fifty plus years now, I'm facing a problem that I've never before encountered. I'm refurbishing a Rolleicord II which had a broken ground glass screen. I want to keep the camera as close to original as possible and have secured a proper, traditional, ground glass replacement. All my current Rolleis have bright screens, and what I can't remember is whether when using a traditional ground glass the matt side of the glass or the smooth side faces the mirror and, hence, the lens. Hopefully someone out there in APUG-land knows the answer. My thought is that it's probably matt side to the mirror, but I may be misremembering, and I'd like to avoid the added possible problem when adjusting the focus of the camera.

Thanks all.
Cheers,
John

Christopher Walrath · Jan 16, 2015

Faces the subject, not the photographer.

lxdude · Jan 16, 2015

The ground side faces the ground.

That is, the matt side faces Matt, if Matt is on the ground.

summicron1 · Jan 17, 2015

the focal plane of the lens -- which is to say, where the image on the glass matches the image on the film, is on the side closest to the lens so that is where the ground part has to be to form the image.

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RalphLambrecht · Jan 17, 2015

jpazzz said:
Hello, I have another of my ignorant questions. Although I've been using Rolleiflex TLRs for fifty plus years now, I'm facing a problem that I've never before encountered. I'm refurbishing a Rolleicord II which had a broken ground glass screen. I want to keep the camera as close to original as possible and have secured a proper, traditional, ground glass replacement. All my current Rolleis have bright screens, and what I can't remember is whether when using a traditional ground glass the matt side of the glass or the smooth side faces the mirror and, hence, the lens. Hopefully someone out there in APUG-land knows the answer. My thought is that it's probably matt side to the mirror, but I may be misremembering, and I'd like to avoid the added possible problem when adjusting the focus of the camera.

Thanks all.
Cheers,
John

it faces the lens;it's on the same side as the film in your film holder.

jamie young · Jan 17, 2015

The dull or ground side is placed at the point of focus to match the film plane, and if people are shimming it would indicate that distance needs correction. Most ground glass is placed away from the user so you can't touch the ground surface and put finger prints on it which don't come out easily. So a rollei would have it facing into the camera. Same with large format cameras. shiny side out so you don't mark it up. There are cameras that don't have the clearance to do this and have the ground glass facing out, like the #5 and #6 cirkut cameras

elekm · Jan 17, 2015

Ground glass (dull side) faces downward toward the mirror.

Shiny side faces upward toward the photographer.

Which side does the ground surface of a ground glass face

jpazzz

Christopher Walrath

lxdude

summicron1

RalphLambrecht

jamie young

elekm

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