Stitching for a larger effective capture size.

[Jones Longshot]

Hi Jones, Thank you, yes! That is exactly the kind of thing I'm thinking about.

How did you find the frosted acrylic? You say 'not as bright or fine as a real focus screen', does that mean still adequate for checking composition? How about outside? I take it you didn't upgrade to ground glass, was that an availability/expense issue or just didn't feel the need?

Thanks for the offer of help and links for laser cutting. I will just make mine up by hand, I can do that to the required accuracy no problems. ( and I daresay much more quickly that I can model one up in CAD. Lol.)

Michael,

I purchased a lot of different laserable materials from glowforge.com. The frosted acrylic was just one of the materials they have available. It is frosted on one side. This is the specific material I used.

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shop.glowforge.com

Real focusing screens are brighter and the texture is finer. This is perfectly adequate for composition. I didn't feel the need for ground glass. In fact I don't think the ground glass on my Horseman or my Sinar was radically better. I know there are super high quality (way more expensive) screens out there but I would say compose with the "ground glass"/Acrylic and focus with your viewfinder. It's going to be much more accurate than a ground glass.

Jones

 

[Michael Floyd]

Hi Jones, Thank you, yes! That is exactly the kind of thing I'm thinking about.

How did you find the frosted acrylic? You say 'not as bright or fine as a real focus screen', does that mean still adequate for checking composition? How about outside? I take it you didn't upgrade to ground glass, was that an availability/expense issue or just didn't feel the need?

Thanks for the offer of help and links for laser cutting. I will just make mine up by hand, I can do that to the required accuracy no problems. ( and I daresay much more quickly that I can model one up in CAD. Lol.)

Michael,

I purchased a lot of different laserable materials from glowforge.com. The frosted acrylic was just one of the materials they have available. It is frosted on one side. This is the specific material I used.

https://shop.glowforge.com/collections/acrylic/products/frosted-acrylic-cast-translucent-glossy

Real focusing screens are brighter and the texture is finer. This is perfectly adequate for composition. I didn't feel the need for ground glass. In fact I don't think the ground glass on my Horseman or my Sinar was radically better. I know there are super high quality (way more expensive) screens out there but I would say compose with the "ground glass"/Acrylic and focus with your viewfinder. It's going to be much more accurate than a ground glass.

Jones

Fabulous, thanks Jones. Much appreciated.

 

[alpshiker]

Some swore by the Beatie screens in past ages.

I thought they would have disappeared, but their website is still active. Maybe an old stock deal on a 6x7 or 6x9 for large format camera? They are usually larger than the actual film size.

…or perhaps, I have never used RB RZ cameras, but since the back is rotative, maybe the viewing screen is square to fit both formats? Would anyone know?

 

[Rob de Loe]

Some people make their own ground glass with a piece of glass and jeweler's rouge. I've seen descriptions for the process. It's much easier to just buy something frosted, but if you want to really do it the hard way...

 

[JimKasson]

Some people make their own ground glass with a piece of glass and jeweler's rouge. I've seen descriptions for the process. It's much easier to just buy something frosted, but if you want to really do it the hard way...

Or you could start with beach sand...

 

[Michael Floyd]

Some swore by the Beatie screens in past ages.

I thought they would have disappeared, but their website is still active. Maybe an old stock deal on a 6x7 or 6x9 for large format camera? They are usually larger than the actual film size.

…or perhaps, I have never used RB RZ cameras, but since the back is rotative, maybe the viewing screen is square to fit both formats? Would anyone know?

Good ideas and information, thanks Paul.

If/when I get a prototype functioning and I like it these could be worth following up on.

 

[Michael Floyd]

Some people make their own ground glass with a piece of glass and jeweler's rouge. I've seen descriptions for the process. It's much easier to just buy something frosted, but if you want to really do it the hard way...

Or you could start with beach sand...

Lol. Too funny.

Well I already have rouge here, as well as various other abrasive pastes, papers, stones and powders in pretty much any grit you could desire.

I'll probably stop short of breaking the local beach sand down and sifting it for the grit required though.

 

[alpshiker]

Some people make their own ground glass with a piece of glass and jeweler's rouge. I've seen descriptions for the process. It's much easier to just buy something frosted, but if you want to really do it the hard way...

Or you could start with beach sand...

This is how the Phoenicians invented frosted glass, having made a big fire on the beach. It took a little longer for someone to have the idea to fit it in an obscura camera.

 

[JimKasson]

Some people make their own ground glass with a piece of glass and jeweler's rouge. I've seen descriptions for the process. It's much easier to just buy something frosted, but if you want to really do it the hard way...

Or you could start with beach sand...

Lol. Too funny.

Well I already have rouge here, as well as various other abrasive pastes, papers, stones and powders in pretty much any grit you could desire.

I'll probably stop short of breaking the local beach sand down and sifting it for the grit required though.

I meant use the beach sand to make the glass.

 

[Macro guy]

Michael, I'm finding this quite fascinating. I think you've come up with a clever and effective way to frame up your Vertex pictures. If you're happy with that workflow, I don't think you can do better with viewfinders and templates and whatnot.

I compared those two images side-by-side. The benefits of using the Vertex are obvious, especially in the corners. But the little Pentax K does surprisingly well.

Can you help me understand what you did a bit better? Did you change your shooting position between the two shots? I ask because the perspective is different, which means the camera was not in the same place.

Edit: You answered my question in a follow-up post!

Has anyone tried the format and lens simulation apps for the phone? You could mount the phone on the shoe of the camera and get a pretty good idea of what the scene is going to look like.