The LL Digital Field Camera Experiment has Ended...

[paul r w freeman]

Paul,

I'd love to see some examples of your work...

Glad to oblige

my personal work, type 55 based is on the Ebony gallery

http://www.ebonycamera.com/gal.contr...anp/index.html

my commercial work is on my website, mostly shot on the Ebony (film) or on the Cambo Wide camera (Aptus 75)

http://www.paulfreeman.net

I haven't got anything yet I'm greatly proud of from the Ebony + stitching back, well there is one shot so far. I'll post some more where I have them

[paul r w freeman]

Paul,

If I understand your post correctly, you are using a solution similar to Richard Sexton's set-up (documented in the LL article in my post above), only instead of shooting a 2-3 frame panoramic (as I understand Richard does), you shoot a matrix of as many as 10 overlapping shots (maybe more?), is that correct?

No, I am pretty much doing the same thing as he has. Thanks for the heads up, I hadn't seen his article but I should give it some more attention. I long ago worked out that lenses of a short FL like the 35's were pretty impractical on a view camera. I could only forsee these being easy to focus with 'live video' view in tethered mode. The problem is that the tiniest misalignment in the front or rear standard would result in part of the image going out of focus. This is very challenging even for a geared camera like the one used by MR. Pretty impossible with an Ebony.

I'm very interested in how well your approach works for you during the coming months. Unlike Richard (who did not need more than a 16Mp back for his work), you are using a top-of-the-line MFDB. So theoretically one would think you could achieve amazing resolution assuming you have the need/value for doing so, and are not lens limited. Do you eventually plan to purchase some (more?) digital lenses to improve image resolution if you end up happy with your solution? Also, do you foresee an eventual need for longer lenses (Richard was quite happy using a 300mm lens via an extension tube) for your shooting style?

I'll keep you posted. When I bought the Aptus, it was specifically for my commercial architectural and interiors work. I couldn't bring myself to sell the Ebony and lenses, so I've been searching for a way of using it. I've always admired the 8x10 photography of people like Joel Meyerowitz, Stephen Shore, Simon Norfolk et al, and now I see this technique as a way of reaching something approaching the techical quality digitally. I'm guessing that I'm achieving roughly the resolution of 5x7, though I have an advantage in the small size of the platform and its being easier to use in windy conditions than an 8x10 camera, lower vibration etc.

I still have a G-Claron 240 which I still have to test. My first tests suggested it was a wee bit soft, but this may have been due to the focusing fault with my first Aptus back. If its still too soft I'll be looking for another 240 or possibly a 300. My subject matter would typically need a wide angle or normal field of view.

I'm not a big fan of spending a lot of time sitting at the computer stitching images, but if Photomerge takes most of the pain out of this task then I might reconsider.

In the case of the sliding back I was having to manually work on the images for about half an hour or more because as the back slides from left to right there is a little vertical movement, as a result the successive images are rotated by one or two pixels. This is probably just due to the tolerance in the sliding mechanism and the weight of the Aptus back. Really, without CS3, this would not be a practical approach for me at all.