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 introduction 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.
However, as with so many
other things these days, electronics often offer an alternative to conventional
approaches. This is also the case with
perspective distortion correction. One
such digital accessory is the LensTRUE System by JOBO. It promises an alternative to adjustable
cameras and offers technically perfect images without distortion and
vignetting. The Lens TRUE System is
accompanied by the Lens TRUE System M, designed for medium format digital cameras.
Every photographer knows
the problem of perspective distortion. Modern image manipulation software
allows some corrections but in most cases these corrections are cumbersome and
time-consuming. They still render wrong proportions as all these corrections
are made only by hand and rely on visual approximation. Even with Photoshop’s
“perspective control” features the most you can achieve is rendering that is
only similar to the real proportions.
Unlike the equalization or
correction of perspectively distorted image with the use of mechanical shifts
or conventional image editing software the LensTRUE system solves the problem
by combining hardware and software.
The LensTRUE System
consists of an electronic inclinometer (LensTRUE meter) to measure and register
the angular position. In a second step the RAW files are combined with the
meter data in the correction software (LensTRUE final) and descewed
automatically in both levels. Even photographs without reference lines and
without perpendicular objects are corrected to the real proportions even when the horizon is not aligned.
The prerequisite for the
use of LensTRUE is a sensor resolution of eight megapixels. However, the higher
the sensor resolution, the more the camera can be angled. The limit of the
automatic correction with LensTrue is 35 degrees. In practice, the inclinometer
is mounted on a tripod and connected to the camera. The inclinometer records
the data of the camera position in every shot. The LensTRUE Software writes the
information gained in the metadata of the image file and uses it for the
perspective correction. The image information is automatically corrected,
however, the correction by LensTRUE leads to a change of the image format.
In a sense LensTRUE
transforms all your lenses into shift lenses – even the zoom lenses! This means
you can use any focal length and you can shoot without a tripod – and still
attain proportionally correct images formerly only achieved by using special
Tilt & Shift Lenses.
LensTRUE opens up a new
world of possibilities for photo production of architecture, industry, art
objects, stills, fashion or beauty, all the way to portrait photography. With
LensTRUE you can unleash your creativity in a new way without either limiting
yourself to the central perspective or accepting perspective distortions.
For more information go to
JOBO
___________________________________________________________________________
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