I see nothing, HELP.

Hi,

 

I bought a Cambo 4x5 and a FUJINON SWD 90mm 5.6. I finally have it mounted on

the front lens board thanks to the Rodenstock spanner wrench. Problem, I don't

see anything on the ground glass.

 

Yes, the lens caps are off, I opened the lens preview button, I cocked the

shutter, tried everything I could think of. The lens is in great shape.

 

Please help if you can.

 

Darryl

Darryl, What if you take off the lens board and look at the lens?

 

1. If the preview button is on, then you should be able to see through the lens.

2. If you're stopped down much, you're going to have a hard time viewing an image on the ground glass. Make sure you're all the way opened up at f/5.6.

3. Do you have a dark cloth to throw over your head and camera to aid in composing and focusing?

Darryl,

The 90mm lens is a relatively short focal length. To focus at infinity

your bellows must be compressed quite a bit. I have the same lens myself. Although the f5.6 lens is faster than the f/8 version you will notice brighter imagery in the center of your ground glass with light

falling off at the corners. I find that to view the image in the corners I must move my head considerably. I'm hoping the problem is as simple as this.

 

good luck,

Walter

When I take it off I see a bright, inverted image of the house across the street. it is on f/5.6. Yes, I tried the dark cloth, I see a VERY faint image.

 

Thank you.

If you need a brighter Ground glass on your camera , try this one

 

http://www.satinsnowglass.com/

 

or a Maxwell screen, they both make it easier to see to focus, although the satinsnow is a lot cheaper.

Should a ground glass be clear? Mine is foggy or smoky looking.

No, it needs to be "foggy" looking, hence it's name, ground glass. If it were transparent glass, there would be no film plane for the image to be focused on to, hence it is opaque.

 

Large format cameras tend to be much more difficult to focus with because they don't project as brightly as something like a 35mm SLR camera. The center of the lens (around the shutter) to the ground glass should be approximately 90mm in order for it to focus properly. If it is too out of focus, then the image appears darker as well, just like using a macro on a bellows or extension tube reduces the light to the film plane.

BTW, the Cambo should have decent glass in it to see the image if it is focused correctly.

Thank you. I've compressed the bellows, very faint still. I just spoke to the Maxwell Optics guy he quoted me $275 (ouch) , but I'm convinced he sells a fine product. I'm gonna have someone look at this first.

Sorry about the link to satin snow glass, it looks like he is no longer in business,too bad a great product.

Michael Ging, I just went to the satinsnowglass website, and he is no longer taking any orders.

Is $275, a good (fair) price, for a piece of glass?

 

I promise I'll subscribe to this site once I get my stimulus check, LOL.

4x5 acid etched glass, which is brighter than most regular "ground" glass is $40. You do NOT have to pay $275. Just make sure before ordering that your lens is pointed at something very bright and visible when you focus. Also, as said above, be sure that you are in the correct focusing range. For 90mm the rear of the lens will be about 4 inches from the glass.

Darryl,

 

wait buying a new groundglass. If this is your first LF camera, then I suspect that you are just not used to viewing on a groundglass - it is NOTHING like looking through a viewfinder of a regular camera. Yes, the image on the groundglass is ALWAYS faint compared to a viewfinder. Make sure that your darkcloth does not allow any stray light to get in - and then look again. The picture on the GG will be inverted, which also takes some getting used to. A 90mm lens is probably not the best starter lens because it tends to have a hot-spot in the middle of the GG - try a 150mm lens or 210 lens and the view will be greatly enhanced.

 

I suspect there is nothing wrong with your existing GG and that you just have the LF-looking-at-the-Groundglass shock:-) We all went through that!

Where do I buy that Bruce?

No, I see no image at all, with a darkcloth. I see a very blurred green when looking at a big tree. 90mm is the best first choice I read in a book for my interest, architecture. And, it'll be months before I can afford another lens.

Try these guys.

 

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZphotofinder

 

There's another guy in Torrance CA that also does GG to order - any size on ebay. Do a search for him as well.

 

I just got my 1st LF the other day and while I did not have your problem, I had a similar one because the PO had the Fresnel and GG in backwards.

 

 

 

Ron

First try focusing on a light bulb or some such very bright target, that should be easy.

 

Make sure the preview is open and the lens is opened up all the way.

 

If you see a blurred image then your lens is probably too far in front of the film plane.

 

I'm sure you don't have a film holder in place... but if you do that would block the image.

 

I've seen a great range of brightness in ground glasses but never one so feint that you don't see an image under a dark cloth with a lens all the way open.

 

What do you see if you remove the lens and look through the camera?

When I take it off I see a bright, inverted image of the house across the street. it is on f/5.6. Yes, I tried the dark cloth, I see a VERY faint image.

 

I do not know how to focus the camera yet.

I researched and this lens has one of the largest coverage circles

If it's still blurry with the bellows all the way compressed, it could mean that your bellows are too long for wide angle lenses and you need a bag bellows to allow shorter distances between the film and the lens. To test this out, take off the bellows and try focusing on something outside from within a darkened room. If you can focus without the bellows, then that's likely the problem. Sorry I don't know the Cambo camera that well.

Is it possible that your bellows does not compress enough to focus a 90mm lens. Your problem is not the groundglass - it sounds lie you can't focus that lens. Try focusing on something very close to the lens - it means that you have to rack out the bellows more - see if the picture comes into focus.

Set the lens wide open (f5.6) and open the preview lever. Focus your eyes on the ground glass as if you were going to read something written on the ground glass. Arrange the dark cloth so that very little ambient light reaches the ground glass. You don't want other light to wash out the image projected by the lens. Adjust the focus of the camera until the image is sharp.

 

On some view cameras, or on some cameras with a standard bellows, it isn't possible to focus a 90 mm lens, because the standards can't be made close enough. You need to be able to place the lensboard about 90 mm in front of the ground glass. If you can't seem to focus on a distant object, try focusing on an object at a few yards distance, because the standards don't have to be as close. If you move the standards close enough, some options: on some cameras you have to move the front standard behind the tripod block, or you might need to use a recessed lensboard, or use a bag bellows.

 

Ashton's suggestion of trying to focus on a light bulb is excellent.

"I do not know how to focus the camera yet."

 

The front and back standards are very likely geared to move toward and away from each other. For a 90mm lens you want to move them very close to each other.

To add a bit more... many geared standards travel along a geared track on the mono-rail. It may be that one knob on the bottom of the standard is the know to move forward and back, and on the opposing side there is a knob to "lock down" the focus. If this is the case, you open the "locking knob", move the standard until you hit focus, then re-tighten the locking side.

 

Once you get to see some image, then you can get fancier. For instance with a wide lens you need to be sure that the front standard is forward enough to keep the monorail out of the frame... then you scoot the rear standard up to focus. With a lot of monorails you only need a short section of rail for a short lens. And as someone mentioned, the tripodattachment is ususlaly kept between the two standards for balance. If it impedes the movement of the standards, it can be moved.