It used to be the case that view
cameras were an essential part among the equipment of professional
photographers. They offer advantages
that other cameras simply don’t have.
Digital image manipulation software like Photoshop or Lightroom have
enabled photographers to compensate for the shortcomings of not using a view
camera in post production.
However, post production is
time consuming and not to the liking of everyone. Even though most image manipulation software
is relatively easy to do, it still has a considerable learning curve, especially
when it comes to more complicated operations like correcting for not using a
view camera.
View cameras are capable of a
variety of things that otherwise are difficult to overcome. For instance, they allow adjustments to
eliminate converging or diverging lines in a photograph. For instance, tall buildings will never be
correctly shown in a photograph taken with a conventional camera. The sides of the building will be converging
toward the top. The view camera
adjustments do allow correcting for that.
Converging lines View Camera corrected
Anyone who is interested in
close up work will quickly become aware that enough depth of field is hard to
come by. Sure, we can stop down our
lenses to increase depth of field, but that inevitably will cause shutter
speeds to be slowed down. While this is
not a problem with inanimate subjects, close up photography out doors will
quickly show how limited stopping down a lens can be, especially on windy
days. Here too the adjustments of a view
camera can solve the problem easily,
Let’s take a closer look. In order to photograph a tall building, it is
necessary to tilt the camera upwards.
This the very reason for the converging lines. The only time this will not be the case is
when the film or sensor plane is parallel to the subject. But that would cut off the top of the building. Instead of tilting the camera, a view camera
will allow to keep the film plane parallel to the building and still get the
upward view by raising the lens.
To correct for lack of depth
of field is a little bit more complicated.
Let’s look at a simply product photograph. Since the film plane is not parallel to the
subject plane, the lens must be stopped down considerably to gain enough depth
of field. A view camera, on the other
hand, allows the application of the Scheimpflug principle. It is named after Austrian army Captain
Theodor Scheimpflug. He found that by
changing the position of the film or sensor plane (the focal plane) and that of
the lens, a large number of problems could easily be solved.
In this example, depth of
field is a definite problem. Using a very
small aperture is not necessarily the answer.
We must remember that camera lenses do not perform evenly at all
apertures. Especially stopping down
beyond a certain f/stop will be accompanied by a deterioration of the image. Applying the Scheimpflug principle will allow
to use the aperture range at which the lens performs best. This entails to tilt the lens, the focal plane
or both in such a manner that the lens plane, the subject plane and the focal
plane all intersect at the same point.
When that is the case, we will have virtually unlimited depth of field,
or so it appears. Effectively what
happens is that by using these movements, we actually tilt the plane of focus
to be the same as the subject plane.
Tilting the lens such that its plane intersects with the intersection point of the subject
plane and the focal plane will render seemingly unlimited depth of field.
In these two photograph by Ansel Adams the same principle was applied to gain sufficient depth of field.
As explained by Ansel Adams, in the color photograph stopping down the lens was not an option
because it would have caused too slow a shutter speed to freeze the motion of the waves.
The same applies with close up photography in nature. Here too all we need to do is determine the subject place and adjust the lens and focal plane accordingly. Stopping down the lens will then gain enough depth of field for any subject matter that is not within the subject plane.
Of course this brings up the
question of how this applies to Leica equipment. Any of the Leica SLR cameras and any of the
Leica M-series cameras with live view can easily be converted to a small view
camera with the Novoflex bellows BALPRO T/S or CASTBAL T/S. Both will convert a camera into a small view
camera. Both offer adapters for a large
variety of cameras as well as lenses. In
addition Novoflex offers a lens, specially designed for use with the view
camera movements. This is the SCHNEIDER
KREUZNACH Apo DIGITAR 4,5/90mm. It is
optimized for digital cameras. The focusing range allows photography from
infinity to 1.2x magnification with 35mm or full frame cameras and up to 1.8x
magnification with APS-C cameras.
Novoflex Balpro T/S Novoflex Castbal T/S
Schneider Apo-Digitar 90mm f/4.5
The lens is supplied with the mounting adapters and a lens shade
The Schneider Balpro T/S in action
For complete information of
the Balpro T/S and the Schneider Digitar go here
For complete information of
the Castbal T/S go here. The capabilities of a view camera go far beyond these few examples, but this article was not meant to be an instruction manual for their use. Instead it is just an instruction to show some of the capabilities of these cameras, all of which allow photographs to be corrected prior to pressing the shutter release and thus eliminating any time consuming post production work. For myself, I rather take photographs than sitting at a computer making up for problems that could easily have been taken care of prior to shooting.
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Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
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