What if anything are you guys doing to protect your 8x10 groundglass from damage?

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), February 12, 2001

Answers

John, My camera has a slot for me to attach an 8x10" peice of thin masonite. It has prevented outside objects from damaging the gg when it is packaged.

Dave.

-- Dave Anton (daveanton@home.com), February 12, 2001.

Either a hard case or a spare if lady luck does not shine upon me. However, another possibly could be the unbreakable GG mentioned below in another posting. My new Canham has a vinyl protective covering that I use when I transport it in the soft case. It would be very easy to have a piece of the vinyl cut that would fit to the outside support member of the ground glass and find a way to hold it in place.

-- Michael Kadillak (m.kadillak@home.com), February 12, 2001.

There was a fella selling (on Ebay) an 8 X 10 version of the A.B.S. plastic 4 X 5 g.g. protector Calumet sells. I didn't get around to buying one, but I printed out his e-mail address to keep just in case.

In the meanwhile, I wrap the camera in the dark cloth and that makes a really SNUG fit in the pocket in the camera case. So far, so good.

Once, at Lens & Repro, I saw a Century Universal that someone had afixed 4 pieces of Velcro to. They had a plexi-glass protector with Velcro on it that covered the GG and a good portion of the back as well.

Doesn't Keith Canham make something, or is it specific to his cameras like the one Wisner makes?

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), February 12, 2001.

Thanks guys; I think the solution is going to be a piece of plex or some sort of board velcroed on.

> 8 X 10 version of the A.B.S. plastic 4 X 5 g.g. protector Calumet sells

That's what prompted the question. I could swear Calumet used to sell them for 8x10 but the salesman told me no. He didn't know if it was a case of "not any more" or just plain "no."

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), February 13, 2001.

I'm still trying to figure out how Kadillak knew what i was going to post BEFORE I posted it!

-- Sean yates (yatescats@yahoo.com), February 13, 2001.

I picked up the doohickey from eBay in 4x5. Sort of slides in like a holder but protects the GG on both sides, much like the Calumeet one - less fancy looking but perfectly functional. My 8x10 is basically encased in a darkcloth - doesn't inspire confidence, espeecially when it rattlees around in the back but touch wood, so far it'sheld up. Cheers, DJ.

-- N Dhananjay (ndhanu@umich.edu), February 13, 2001.

I cut a piece of 1/4" closed cell foam to press fit into my 4x5 for this purpose. Something like that might work for larger gg's. Maybe you could cement it to a slightly larger piece of mat board and use the aformentioned velcro to attach the latter to the camera back?

-- Robert A. Zeichner (info@razeichner.com), February 13, 2001.

In the pack, I have two 8x10 holders on top of the gg underneath the darkcloth. Can't say it won't break, but the sort of incident necessary to break it and the holders on top would probably be such a major disaster that the gg is going to be the least of my worries.

-- Anthony J. Kohler (arbitrator@ispchannel.com), February 13, 2001.

A piece of masonite or thin plywood held in place with large rubber bands works fine. Any kind of elastic would work to hold the protecter in place. Ideally, you could cover one side of the masonite or plywood with thin padding to place next to the ground glass. I have used the thin rubber made to place on the bottom of cabinet shelves to keep the dishes from sliding about. The padding can be attached using spray cement such as Super 77.

Regards,

-- Doug Paramore (dougmary@alaweb.com), February 13, 2001.

I no longer have an 8x10, but when I had one I used to protect the groundglass with a home-made slip-on cover made of 4mm thick foamcor which you can buy from an art supply store for about $4 per sheet (poster size). I cut two panels that fit the front and the back of the groundglass, then hot-glued a strip of cloth to serve as the hinge. Foamcor is stiff enough to insert in and out of the groundglass, and the paper surface prevents scuffing of the camera. The expanded polystyrene sandwich also absorbs shock better than a solid surface. Worked real well for me. Easy to make and inexpensive too. I spray painted the outside surface of one panels flat black, and ocassionally used the panel as a flag to prevent lens flare.

-- Rico Obusan (eobusan@aol.com), February 13, 2001.

The new Phillips cameras comes with a clear plexiglass protector. There's no need to take it away at all, and it is very practical in cold weather because it condensates less than the ordinary ground glass. Dick Phillips call it Lexan and for an 8x10 it costs 31$.

-- Jan Eerala (jan.eerala@itameri.net), February 13, 2001.

Sean, I bought that gg protector from the dude on ebay, it works great on my Toyo 810Mii.... tell him the camera and he will tell ya if it fits...for $20 its not worth tinkering with,..

-- Bill Glickman (bglick@pclv.com), February 13, 2001.

I use the Canham 8x10 plastic ground glass protector. It's nice and thick, looks like it's a piece of quality equipment, and it slides on and off very easily without scratching the back. I believe I paid about $30 for it from The F Stops Here. I used the Calumet protector on my 4x5 for a while but I didn't like it - it was very thin (i.e. didn't seem to provide a lot of protection) and looked like the cheap piece of black plastic that it was. I wouldn't order one for 8x10 even if they sold one.

-- Brian Ellis (bellis60@earthlink.net), February 14, 2001.

How does the Canham 8x10 protector attach? My new/old Wista doesn't have any way to attach a cover (or viewing aids etc) to the wood groundglass frame.

Or iow, it doesn't have the sort of attachment points used to hold the protector on the Canham DLC 45.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), February 14, 2001.

My groundglass is unbreakable. Go to a plastics store, have them cut you a sheet of clear Lexan same size and thickness and your ground glass. Scuff up the lens side with #600 wet-or-dry sandpaper, cut grid lines if desired with a Stanley untility knife, install it in the camera back. Problem solved. You can shoot it with a bb gun and it won't break. Cost $5.

-- Kevin Crisp (krcrisp@aol.com), February 14, 2001.

Well gents, solved my problem. $3.18 at Pearl Arts & Crafts bought a 9"x11.5" piece of thick plex and enough velcro to stick it on.

Thanks for your input.

-- John Hicks (jbh@magicnet.net), February 14, 2001.

I've made two of these from maghogony or cherry, depending on the camera, that fit in the area over the ground glass, and are held in with velvet strips along the edges. Much more eye-pleasing than foam core, etc.!

Also, suggest getting an extra ground glass and carrying it, at least on long trips. Much better than a ruined trip.

-- Keith Pitman (kapitman@msn.com), February 19, 2001.

I made up a gg protector out of two pieces of masonite and a 1/2" strip of wood. The two pieces of masonite were about the same dimensions as a film holder, and were joined together at one end with a strip of wood about a half inch square. Slides in with one piece of masonite on either side of the gg. Took about ten minutes to make, cost was free (already had the materials), and it does the job quite nicely.

-- David Munson (orthoptera@juno.com), July 26, 2001.