Achiving cetralisation and parallelism for front and rear standard

[sweat100]

I have recently gotten a B&J 8x10 field camera. There seemed to be no "zero" markings on the camera to denote where is the center point (or optical axis) between the front and the rear standard. And also there is no marking to show zero swing and tilt (meaning the front and rear standards are parallel).

I would like to ask what are some of the ways to find these parameters on my B&J field camera.

1. Optical center to align front and rear standard
2. Parallelism between front and rear standard

*I suppose when B&J deisgned a camera, they should have the "zero" in mind as a starting point for photographer. How come I do not see them? :confused:

[Len Middleton]

Short answer that you are likely to get by many is "Because they are not required, that is what the ground glass is for...".

If you buy a new Richard Ritter 8x10, you will not find any there either I am given to understand.

You can of course measure it all up and mark the zero points where it all aligns in pencil on adjoining parts to speed up set up and ease your mind...

Hope that helps,

Len

[Former Member 27732]

Short answer that you are likely to get by many is "Because they are not required, that is what the ground glass is for...".

If you buy a new Richard Ritter 8x10, you will not find any there either I am given to understand.

You can of course measure it all up and mark the zero points where it all aligns in pencil on adjoining parts to speed up set up and ease your mind...

Hope that helps,

Len

Agreed, although it can be a bit of a wrench after using a camera that has zero markings and detents. However, if you put in the time and effort to understand that 'focus v swing relationship' thing you'll get used to it. Persevere.
/Frank

[sweat100]

Finding the optical center seems ok with a cylinder tube extended from the rear element. However for parallelism I do not have a very good method. Currently, I am using visual judgement against newspaper prints on a wall. If anyone has better techniques, would appreciate to hear from you.

[E. von Hoegh]

Finding the optical center seems ok with a cylinder tube extended from the rear element. However for parallelism I do not have a very good method. Currently, I am using visual judgement against newspaper prints on a wall. If anyone has better techniques, would appreciate to hear from you.

You can put levels on the front and rear standards. But, the final arbiter is always the image on the groundglass.

[Larry H-L]

I use a simple carpenter's square.

[frotog]

http://www.versalab.com/server/photo/products/parallel.htm

[C. D. Keth]

Set it up once with a level and make yourself neutral detents. Really though, unless you do copy work none of that matters nearly as much as you think. Just look at the groundglass and make pictures.

[John Kasaian]

Use your eyeballs. it works every time for me.:cool:

[sweat100]

Thanks everyone for the different methods. I will try each one and see which works well. After which I will mark on the camera to serve as a starting point for me next time!