Arca Swiss Orbix

[more photography]

I have been round the WWW, this and many other forums,and still not 100% clear about orbix movement.

I am mainly interested in Landscape, and prefer not to distort the perspective, does somebody have afull explanation or orbix, has anybody written adocument on it.

There are plenty of explanation of the web regarding ebony asymmetrical movements, also about centre movements, but not about orbix. Does it work with base tilt inthe front standard, and how do they complement each other.

Thanks in advance.

[jotloob]

The base tilt (swing) for the front and rear frame has its axis at the top of the function block , but lower than the bottom of the corresponding frame .
The orbix tilt (swing) has it axis in the middle of the frame and is only meant for the front frame . So , orbix is a supplementary tilt (swing) possibility for special situations . When shooting landscapes , in most cases I just use an orbix tilt by 5-8 degrees and receive the desired results .

[Atul Mohidekar]

Orbix adds the axis tilt capability for the front standard about the lens axis. IMO this considerably shortens the time taken to focus the camera when tilt is required, at the cost of slightly higher weight. There are two types of Orbix. Both add the ability to tilt the front standard about the lens axis. The Dynamic Orbix (older) is not geared, the Micrometric Orbix (newer) is geared. I would recommend the Micrometric Orbix if you are considering one.


// Atul

[evan clarke]

It's the best thing since buttered bread with jam. You focus the center of the GG and then click in the foreground to focus, stop down and expose...EC

[Sheldon N]

If you want to see what it looks like on the camera, check out the first picture in this thread...

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=36782

I have the micrometric orbix mounted on an Arca Swiss 4x5 Field (110-141). The micrometric orbix is the second knob from the top on the right side of the photo.

Micrometric orbix is just geared front axis tilt (as opposed to the standard base tilt of the Arca). Even though it is located under the lens, it works like axis tilt because the geared track moves along a curved arc.

The real beauty of Orbix is the precision with which you can fine tune movements.

[more photography]

If you want to see what it looks like on the camera, check out the first picture in this thread...

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=36782

I have the micrometric orbix mounted on an Arca Swiss 4x5 Field (110-141). The micrometric orbix is the second knob from the top on the right side of the photo.

Micrometric orbix is just geared front axis tilt (as opposed to the standard base tilt of the Arca). Even though it is located under the lens, it works like axis tilt because the geared track moves along a curved arc.

The real beauty of Orbix is the precision with which you can fine tune movements.

Thanks very much - very nice photos, will go back and leave you some feedback.

Which Camera was that ?

You talk about (110-141) what does that mean.

So - it is like an axis, You focus, tilt and focus until the whole plane is sharp.

Any advantages to normal axis, other than gearded and precision.

[marschp]

I have the Arca Swiss F-Field with micrometric orbix, a 110 front standard and 141 rear standard.

The camera has BOTH front base tilt and front centre tilts. However, the base tilt is manual - you have to push or pull it (very smooth). The centre tilt is geared, controlled by the orbix mechanism - just turn the knob and the frame tilts forwards or backwards, rotating about the centre axis of the lens.

Having used it for landscape I don't find Orbix as useful as it seemed when I first read about it. Yes, you can sometimes focus quickly if your composition includes an even distribution of subjects from front to back and from top to bottom. However, with landscape photography (mine at least) this is most often not the case, with the subjects that must be in sharp focus distributed unevenly about the image, making use of centre tilts redundant. I now find myself using front or, more usually, rear base tilts to focus.

This is a point alluded to by Jack Dykinga in his book 'Large Format Nature Photography', page 51 where he states "However, most situations encountered by the landscape photographer involve irregularly shaped subject matter with emphasis placed on the foreground. For that reason I'm apt to use a back base tilt most of the time."

If I were ordering the Arca today, knowing what I now know, I'd save the bucks and go without the Orbix mechanism. Now, if they had the option of a lightweight geared back base tilt maybe I'd go for that.

Cheers.

Paul

[more photography]

Thanks for your assistance, what is 110 front and 141 rar std, what is the difference and what value to ge from them

Thanks

[Frank Petronio]

About two years ago, Arca switched the size of their format frames (the frames that the lensboard and ground glass back clip into) from 171mm square to 141mm square. This saves weight and makes the camera more compact. Of course older 171mm bellows and such won't interchange, so now they can upsell (or upset) their old customers ;-)

They also made a variant to the 4x5 series of cameras by using a 110mm frame and lensboard for the "Field" version of the 4x5 F-line. It is lighter and more compact; its bellows is quite nice, and it is a good way to go if you are a weight shaving backpacker. However I think you give up a little bit of "rise" capability (34mm I suspect).

In practice, (and some users will argue this -- so do a search) the 171mm cameras are excellent and the switch to the smaller frames only saves a few ounces... so often a used 171mm version is a sweet deal. And even the 171 version is compact and easy to backpack, plus the larger lensboards are very nice for larger lenses!

If you are just getting into this and are a "newb" then an expensive Arca-Swiss is quite an investment to see if large format photography is going to work for you. Arca also made a 4x5 kit called the Discovery, which is quite a bargain and has all the same parts as the other 171mm cameras except for a simplified standard which uses friction movements. It's the best bang for the buck and really all that anyone needs -- the additional $ features are just that -- nice extras but not essential to making good photos. You might still find new old stock somewhere, and many come up on eBay. Lots of people buy expensive Arca, Linhof, and Ebony cameras because "they are the best" but then they never use them, so those are the best deals ever.

For that matter, a really old Arca -- the ABC series from pre-1980 -- is a fine camera and a real bargain (often less than $500). The only problem with these is that most of the parts are not forward compatible with the later F- and M-lines.

Arca-Swiss doesn't have a website and there is rarely any up to date literature available. Forums like this serve as their defacto website and technical support center ;-) There is a very good article by Kerry Thalmann in View Camera magazine's archives (I forget what issue and I am not a subscriber) and this camera repair center maintains a lot of Arca information (much of what I wrote... ;-p): http://precisioncameraworks.com/

Arca-Swiss is a strange company in the way they operate their business but their cameras are very nice and I guess they don't have to try to hard to sell or service them. Just research them before you buy and make sure parts you buy on eBay will fit your particular model.

FWIW, I think the Discovery is the way to go, they sell in the $800 range on eBay and nothing else comes close at that price range (except maybe a new Chamonix from China).

[Frank Petronio]

Not to kill a dead horse, but remember you can always ADD Orbix to your camera later on, it just costs a fee and a trip to Precision Camera Works.