Anyone have recent experience with sources for generic groundglass screens for old cameras?

-- Carl Weese (cweese@earthlink.net), December 19, 2001

Answers

I can't seem to find his website, but Steven Shuart, 102 Pine Ave, Kane, PA 16735, (800)458-6092, sells custom cut groundglass, anti-newton glass, classic lenses, Graflex parts, and such.

-- David Goldfarb (dgoldfarb@barnard.edu), December 19, 2001.

It is very easy to make your own: Get some #500-600 carborundum from a lapidary supply (jewelry supply, rock polisher, etc) Some water, and an extra piece of glass. About 20-30 minutes of of gentle, random polishing and you have a very fine Ground Glass.

-- Gary Frost (gary.frost@onemain.com), December 19, 2001.

Stephen Shuarts website: www.stephenshuart.com

-- J. P. Mose (j.p.mose@lmco.com), December 19, 2001.

I bought one a year ago from a guy on ebay who makes and sells them. I have no idea what his name is, but he might still be listing them on ebay. Probably not as perfect as a factory glass, but perfectly useable and very cheap.

-- Andrew Cole (laserandy@aol.com), December 19, 2001.

Midwest Photo Exchange can usually supply ground glass to fit your camera.

Regards,

-- Doug Paramore (Dougmary@alaweb.com), December 19, 2001.

Good ground glass has never been around an abrasive, they are all acic etched with hydroflouric acid using planar glass.

-- Ken Woodard (klwoodard1@home.com), December 19, 2001.

Try some glass etching cream from any craft store. You may have to try several time to get it even all over, but its cheap and easy. And its much safer than hyroflouric acid.

-- Howard Anderson (howardanderson40@yahoo.com), December 20, 2001.

I had to wonder what I'm missing using a carborundum-ground-glass. I made a replacement for a Super Graphic I bought a few years ago. (...it had a sheet of velum between the fresnel & a clear glass!) My other camera is a Tachihara: Generally considered to have a 'decent' GG for the price of the camera. (though I wonder about how flat it is considering it's made of plastic....it works) The image is bright and grain/image structure holds up well to a 10X loupe. This is more than enough magnification to critical focus large format. Comparing to the carborundum-G-G, the image brighness and grain structure is just as good as the Tachihara. Certainly the fresnel is more a distraction than the grain size of the GG for focus. The quality of glass you start with is important, but even a high quality plate glass you should be able to find a sample big enough that is flat enough for the application. This worked so well and easy, I made a set of sizes to check film plane accuracy for 35mm & 120 cameras. Someday maybe I'll get a good ground glass but for now these are quite servicable.

-- Gary Frost (gary.frost@onemain.com), December 20, 2001.