focusing cloth

American  

noun

1. an opaque cloth surrounding the ground glass of a camera so as to shield the eyes of the photographer from light that would otherwise prevent seeing the image in the ground glass.

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Etymology

Origin of focusing cloth

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

“She’d be barefoot, and with her husband, Allan, would duck under the focusing cloth of their heavy eight-by-ten view camera and start whispering conspiratorially before they photographed me.”

From Washington Post • Apr. 4, 2020

At the same moment Blake threw a black focusing cloth over the mirror, for he thought the Frenchman might notice that it was in a position to reflect whatever took place in the opposite room.

From The Moving Picture Boys on the War Front Or, The Hunt for the Stolen Army Films by Appleton, Victor [pseud.]

The focusing cloth clung to her head like a cowl as she raised it and bowed.

From Tiny Luttrell by Hornung, Ernest William

The focusing cloth is thrown over your head, the position taken as shown, and the exposure made by the pressure of the teeth on the bulb while held between them.

From The Boy Mechanic: Volume 1 700 Things for Boys to Do by Popular Mechanics Co.

The focusing cloth should be fastened to the camera.

From The Scrap Book, Volume 1, No. 1 March 1906 by Various