Thanks to all of you who provided suggestions about diagnosing the problem of the ghost images. Pinhole in the bellows was a good thought, but the image was so close to the original (only off by an inch or less on a 12X20 neg) that it didn't seem likely. Talked to Ron W, who seconded the good thought of several of you to set the thing up for a shot pointed at a bright light, and then stick my head inside with the dark cloth on and the GG removed (easier to do on a 12 X 20 than, say, a 6X9!) He felt this would work better than a bright light inside, as you have to be right in the optical path to see the spot, and can easily miss it otherwise, whereas if you have your head right where the GG would be, should be in the right optical path. Anyway, after about 3 minutes to dark adapt, it was obvious that the Linhof board was VERY poorly seated in the weeny plastic "adapter" that Ron W sent me with the camera. This delicate thing might work to hold little Super Symmar 110 XLs into place in 4X5 cameras, but was clearly not up to supporting the manly chunks of glass that will cover 12X20, at least with it sitting on its side! Ron is sending me a solid wood adapter to go from a Wisner board direct to a Linhof without the intervening plastic piece, hopefully before I leave for Oz in three days!

Thanks as always for all your helpful thoughts!

Nathan

-- Nathan Congdon (ncongdon@jhmi.edu), April 09, 2002

Answers

Nathan:

It's not the size of your lens that counts, it's what you point it at!

Good luck in Oz.

-- Glenn C. Kroeger (gkroeger@trinity.edu), April 09, 2002.

G'day Nathan,

If you require any advice about supplies and such in Sydney please feel free to get in contact.

Have a bonza time while your down here, sport!

Walter Glover

-- Walter Glover (walterg@netaus.net.au), April 09, 2002.

Good luck getting the part in a timely manner from RW. Make duct tape your friend just in case. :D

-- Chad Jarvis (cjarvis@nas.edu), April 09, 2002.

Yes, I agree that getting the part in time is not guaranteed! My fallback position is 2 straight Wisner Copal 3 boards, and I will just mount the 2 lenses that I use for most of my shots: 19" Dagor and Fuji 600 F11.5C.

N

-- Nathan Congdon (ncongdon@jhmi.edu), April 09, 2002.