Axial Tilt Field 8x10 Suggestions

[peter schrager]

stenopeika looks to me another overly designed machine. and it aint cheap either. go with the standard bearers like Wista or deardorff ; shen hao;and be happy. you buy cameras several times like I have. hated my 8x10 Canham...just the design wasn't for me and $3500 later..too late!
you are wise to contact someone here or on Photrio and try out their camera first. this could be a time and money saver...

[Doremus Scudder]

I'm going to jump ship here and advocate in another direction.

Unless you have a very good reason to avoid base tilts, I think you should consider cameras that only offer them on one or both standards.

Here are my reasons: First, axis tilts usually mean a heavier camera. Traditionally, field cameras had only base tilts. Some now have axis tilts on the front, but not the back standard. Your selection will be much larger if you include base tilts in your search parameters. Furthermore, many field cameras that have front axis tilts combine the lock-down knob with the rise/fall movement. This can be a bit of a PITA to deal with when using rise/fall and the front standard is out of the centering detents. You have to make sure to hold the front standard in the correct vertical position when tilting and vice-versa.

Second, and most important to me: in practice, base tilts give you more accuracy in placing the plane of sharp focus. With axis tilts, one focuses in the middle of the ground glass and then brings either top or bottom into focus. The focus spread is at most half the ground glass in vertical orientation (about 5 inches with an 8x10 camera). With base tilts, you focus at the bottom of the ground glass and tilt/refocus to bring the top into the same plane. However, you have the entire length of the ground glass between focus points, which is simply more accurate.

Dealing with base tilts is confusing for some at first, but it's really simple once you work things out for yourself. Yes, it often takes a reiteration or two, but axis tilts often require a bit of fiddling as well. For me, the process is simple: focus on a point at the bottom of the ground glass (usually the near point), tilt (front or back) till both near and far focus points are equally out of focus, refocus (shorter) to get the original focus point sharp, check the point at the top of the ground glass, repeat as needed. I'm as fast now with base tilts as with axis tilts.

An hour or so learning to deal with base tilts may open up a lot more cameras for your consideration.

Best,

Doremus