I find base tilt easier to work with but I trained on Sinars (I now use Arca Swi ss F-line.) Bob is right there is no way a viewer can tell if a photo was made with a base tilt or axis tilt or off axis tilt camera design; Using that logic t here is no way a viewer can tell if the camera used was a $5,000 Linhof or a $50 0 Calumet Cadet! However the user of the camera can tell a difference in both case s, and that is what is important.
Bob is also right in that not all base tilt cameras are yaw free designs. For a camera to be yaw free, the tilt pivot needs to be under the swing pivot. I'd like to point out that Linhof felt that this wa s an important enough advantage to design the Kardan GT45, Kardan GTI45, Kardan GT 810, Kardan MasterGTL45, and Kardan Master GTL 810 camera systems 9the latter two also have axis tilt as well) and the new M679 view/digit al cameras with a yaw free base tilt design.
. A yaw free design mostly shines in studio use. Some very well thought of architecture and landscape photo graphers (I am thinking of Norman McGrath and Jack Dykinga) who can afford any camera they like also find the way the Arca F works to best fit their way of working. Probably just as many like the axis tilt Linhof TK45s cameras, which are very fine machines too.
I am a commercial photographer and can only offer that after trying many cameras after ten years of training on a Sinar P and then using a Sinar C camera that the complete Arca F package works best for me as both a studio camera ( a yaw fr ee makes having to make the complex combinations of movements: front and rear tilts + swing + possible shift + rise/ fall (I really like having rise/fal l in the same plane as the tilt) that are often necessary for product photograph y) and as a field camera for architecture and landscape work. By total package I mean not just the engineering of the tilts and rigidity but also the entire ergonomic s of the camera. The Linhof TK45s design is also very fine (no one disputes that B ob) and a couple of very good friends of mine who just do architecture photography really like their TK45s cameras.
My feeling is that large format c amera designs really reflect the personality and quirks of the designer of the camera and that it is important to find a camera that matches your personality. All these things arejust very flexible but precise light tight boxes and how the controls and accessories feel to you can make the work either frustrating & fidd ly or else non-intrusive and quickly intuitive.
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