So I have been thinking lately that some vertical 8x20 shots would be nice. For the past year I have been shooting nothing but the dependable horizontal images. Then came an a vertical 7x17 image that I saw taken of a tree in a field. Very nice composition. Last weekend I found my golden opportunity to take a try. This was after setting the 8x20 up in the garage to get used to the idea and see how it worked. The 8x20 (Wisner) was set on my heavy duty Zone VI tripod with a Gitzo head. The head has a deeper base plate for larger cameras so I was able to attach the camera rotated 90 degrees on the tripod plate.
The image was of a lonely tree in a field with no background clutter (very rare in this day when houses are planted in fields instead of corn). Now the hard part. I was forced to tilt the camera so far up that there was no way to even come close to any sort of leveling of the back. The bottom of the ground glass was way too far down to even begin to see. Not to mention that the overall configuration of the setup was nerve racking. Needless to say I pulled the camera off the tripod and opted for a shot on the 11x14. This after a 20 minutes of fighting the camera. So now on to the question. As I see it there are two choices. The first is to plunge into a vertical conversion back. That would solve the problem although my wallet would take a hit. Not too mention the wait for the actual back to be built. The second option is to try the VMD from lotus. I had a friend that used one on his 7x17. He told me that the camera was so light that there was no need for it anymore. The VMD would solve the problem of camera stability.
My big concern is this. Would the use of the VMD on an 8x20 give me the flexibility to control the perspective as well? Working sideways seems to be fundamentally confusing. If the shots taken with the vertical conversion back worked, the price would be worth it. Using the VMD to get a shot that was "good enough" is not the purpose. As an example I know of a waterfall in North Carolina that would be perfect for a vertical composition on the 8x20. Imagine if I used the VMD on this waterfall (after a 1.5 mile round trip hike) and the image suffered from lack of perspective correction. That would be one more negative in the "close but no cigar" pile. I do admit that I suffer from a certain level of over the edge control freak syndrome when shooting. This is why the VMD may not work. At any rate has anyone else had any experience with hanging an 8x20 on a Lotus VMD?
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