[LargeFormat] Ground glass washing

[philip.lambert]

Last year I bought a wood 10x8 field camera and 360mm f11 lens; finding the
screen dim  I washed it under the tap,which worked quite well with my
previous 10x8 Sinar's screen.  There was an improvement but I obtained a
greater one by next spraying the glass with Paterson lens cleaner and wiping
it with a tissue.  Afterwards I masked off the glass  leaving a three inch
square in the middle and put a thin film of vaseline on this central square
and rubbed most of it off again. Taking off the masking tape left me a clean
focussing screen with a bright central area easy to focus despite the f11
lens. I found the weight of the outfit limited portability and the cost a
W/A 240mm and of buying/processing colour materials a deterrent (I am not
keen on monochrome) so I sold the outfit to a pro living in an offshore
island with a low tax regime. The outfit had to be split into two
consignments to go by post.  Philip



>I would add to this (although I have not made my own glass) is
> to be sure the glass is dry before evaluating just how 'ground' it is!
> When wet, the water fills the tiny scratches and makes the glass appear
> un-etched.  Or so I found when I washed 40 years of grime off of mine!
>