Just wondering...
Why is a view camera called a view camera? Because the image can be viewed through the focusing screen? What then, pedantically, would be a view camera with a digital back?
Sorry for the nitpicking :-)
Just wondering...
Why is a view camera called a view camera? Because the image can be viewed through the focusing screen? What then, pedantically, would be a view camera with a digital back?
Sorry for the nitpicking :-)
When you put the film back into the view camera you can't see out of the back either so..... whats the difference?
Why is a view camera called a view camera?
I expect you'll get some serious attempts at answers (this isn't one of them) but I also suspect most, if not all, of the answers will be WAGs. You'll need to build a time machine and go ask someone who knew.
Because the image can be viewed through the focusing screen?
I doubt it. All 35mm SLRs have a focusing screen where you view the image, and they aren't called view cameras.
What then, pedantically, would be a view camera with a digital back?
Uh... a "view camera with a digital back?" Digital view camera? Variable geometry digital camera? Right now, you start with a camera from one manufacturer, then go looking for a digital back from somebody else. So there isn't really a term for the combination. Maybe someone will decide to sell such an animal; then if they come up with a catchy name (or corner the market) we'll all use their name for it.
Maybe we'd all better be working on the answers to the tough questions we'll be fielding in a few years. "What was film, Grandpa?"
Well, old members know that my english isn't the best one, but I think I can help in explaining the meaning of name "the view camera" just with translation from terms I know in Croatian and German (and I think I have seen those in English as well, but I'm not quite sure right now) - view or technical camera's real name is "optical bench" and more descriptive name is "camera for direct viewing" (I'm not sure for spelling on the second term). I think that you can now easily explain why abbreviated name is just "view camera"... (wow, spelling checker had nothing to do... now just to find some grammar and sentence checker... ;-))
"Maybe someone will decide to sell such an animal;"
They do.
Sinar had sold backs for their cameras.
Linhof owns Anagramm and mates backs with their cameras like the M679.
AFAIK, it's called a view camera because the image on the ground glass is *exactly* the image that will fall onto the film (unlike a SLR, TLR or rangefinder). The term 'technical' camera usually indicates a particularly generous amount of movements (back swing/tilt etc) - unlike the 'field' camera that usually has a lesser set.
from the cleveland museum of art glossary:
View camera
A large camera, so-called for the ground-glass viewing screen located on the same plane as the film. This screen, which receives light directly from the picture-taking lens, reveals precisely what the film will record. The typical view camera has four basic structural parts: a bed, the support on which the other parts rest and move, historically a dual track framework although most modern view cameras are monorail; the front, which has various mechanisms that support and allow adjustments to the lens; the back, which has the same freedom of movement as the front but incorporates a ground-glass viewing screen that moves out as a unit to accept a film holder and hold it in place; and the bellows, made of pleated leather or rubber-coated canvas, which provides a light-tight connection between front and back. Instead of bellows, some early view cameras were simply two boxes that could slide into one another.
---Scott
www.srosenberg.com
Sinar had sold backs for their cameras.
Bob, I shoulda known that if anyone had that answer at hand, it would be you. Thanks.
All they need now, is a catchy name.)
"View Camera" seems to be typically English or American-English for certain kinds of large format [still] cameras.
French terminology refers to "chambre photographique" "chambre grand format" "chambre technique" or simply, " chambre" like in camera [obscura]. In French, "caméra" only refers to a movie- or cine-camera.
German refers to "Großformat" or "Fachkamera" the latter meaning 'Professionnal camera'.
Strangely enough, neither German nor French refer to anything like 'view' except in jokes like 'chambre avec vue'.
A real question is : since all serious porfessionals are supposed to be "moving to digital", for how long large format cameras will still be "professional" cameras !! ;-);-);-)
They will still probably use some sort of view camera with a digital back for the movements, won't they?
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