Landscapes - How much movements do you use?

[Brian Ellis]

Often use front tilt to alter the plane of focus; use front rise fairly often (e.g. to to keep trees parallel while getting their tops in the photograph); use rear tilt fairly often, to make foreground objects appear larger (to "loom" as Fred Picker used to say) or when the camera needs to be aimed up because of insufficient front rise; occasional front swing with things like cliff walls. However, as I've been using a digital camera more often these days I've found that the only movement I really miss is front tilt. The others can be duplicated or compensated for in Photoshop (actually I've read of a method to duplicate front tilt too but it sounded like a pain to use).

[timparkin]

I commonly use between 3-8 degrees of rear tilt and some rise/fall and quite often for 'intimate landscapes' I will use 5-15 degrees of rear tilt and possible 3-10 degrees of swing. On a recent shot (a right bugger) I was using a 110 Schneider SSXL and ended up with 20 degrees of rear back tilt, 10 degrees of front forward tilt and 10 degrees of swing. Once I'd done this, I used rear rise/shift to finalise composition. I've only ever done this amount of movement on two shots however (both not particularly successful - but you could say that about a lot of my shots - the first is here http://flickr.com/photos/timparkin/2420912531 and another more 'vista-esque' shot with compound movements is here http://flickr.com/photos/timparkin/2452461803/).

However if you are taking shots in the open with little foreground with the camera at head height, I expect you only need a little rise/fall and about 1-3 degrees of tilt.

Tim

[Oren Grad]

Lots of front rise. Occasionally a bit of front tilt. Rarely anything else. The exception is cameras that don't have enough front rise, in which case I'll occasionally use a combination of front and rear tilts to get more front rise.

[Maretzo]

Mostly front rise and back tilt, and twice per year front swing. And of course, the whole system is moving around in my Lowepro.

[Ron Marshall]

Usually front rise, and occasionally some front tilt. Rarely do I use movements on the rear standard, except rear fall to complement the front rise.

[Peter von Gaza]

If I wasn't going to use movements, I'd take my medium format camera. But movements are generally small, and rarely more than one axis.

I mostly agree with the statement. My workhorse the last 10 years has been my Mamiya 7 and when I want to go light or I'm in a rush I just grab my medium format gear. However, over the last few years I have used my 4x5 more - mainly because I just love the large negatives and with the current generation of digital printers making very large prints is now feasible and affordable. I like the idea of being able to have a show someday with very large prints (> 16x20). And also my 4x5 kit weighs about the same as my Mamiya 7 kit. If I go with 4x5 I generally bring my Mamiya 7 with one lens which gives me more flexibility in my photography.

The biggest advantage of going 4x5 for me, right now, is that I scan all my negs and print digitally. Scanning 4x5 on my cheap Epson 4990 scanner gives me super fantastic results, whereas scanning 120 negs just gives super results .

[Frank Petronio]

I think it depends on style -- it's trendy these days to use shallow depth of field with only the main subject of interest in focus. In which case a fixed - no movements 4x5 with fast Aero Ektar or Xenotar is the weapon of choice (Walter C has a RB Super D modified with an Aero-Ektar.... Probably the ultimate bokeh weapon!)

It's just a counter reaction to the Ansel Adams - Fred Picker approach of having an unnatural amount of things in focus across an unlikely range of distances...

So, given that you do 4x5 with minimal movements and you already have a nice Mamiya 7, you know what logic compels you to do don't you?

Chuck the 4x5 and shoot 8x10.

[walter23]

I've used every movement on my shen hao for "landscapes" (front rise/fall/swing/tilt, rear rise/fall/shift/tilt/swing) at one time or another. Sometimes to control perspective on things like trees (I usually use rise or fall instead of tilting my camera), sometimes for focus, sometimes for composition. I've even used shift for capturing two sheets of film to later stitch digitally, panorama style, effectively turning my 4x5 into a 5x7 (with concomitant increase in field of view, ie. wider angle).

In fact even when I don't really need a movement, I usually rough out a composition, go through the routine for focus, then use fine rise/fall/shift adjustments to finalize composition before shooting.

[Eric Leppanen]

My first LF camera was a Toho Mini; like you, I was looking for a 4x5 equivalent to the Mamiya 7, and the Mini seemed to fit the bill. I used to be able to fit the Mini, three lenses, a Readyload holder and loupe into a small Lowepro Photorunner belt pack. What a light weight, rock solid bit of kit! Alas, for landscape shooting the Mini for me was mostly a wide-to-normal camera; lenses longer than 150mm (and sometimes even the 150mm was problematic too) just did not have enough DOF for near-to-far landscape shots without resort to tilt. Even though the Mini had enough extension to support my Fuji 240A. the available DOF limited me to distant or planar subjects. Lack of tilt was the main reason I ultimately sold the Mini and upgraded to more fully featured cameras; I wanted to use longer lenses and frequently needed movements to make that feasible.

I assume you are aware that the Mini can support a limited amount of front rise via use of the Eccentric Lens Panel. For landscape use, I think rise is largely a function of where you live and what you shoot; in the southwestern U.S. where I live, there are lots of deep canyons and tall rock monoliths that need rise to bring to their full glory. If I were living in Kansas, I don't think I'd ever use rise at all.

If one can live with wide-to-normal angles of view, I think the Ebony RSW45 (which I now own) would be an ideal "no frills" landscape camera. While not as light or solid as the Mini, it has front tilt and lots of front rise, is very fast to set up (it is a non-folder) and is still relatively light (3 lbs). The RSW45 can support a 210mm lens via a "top hat" lens board, plus it is a wonderful wide-angle camera (it handles my SA47XL with ease).

I very rarely use swing when shooting landscapes. I use swing quite a bit when shooting architecture with my Arca monorail.

[joolsb]

Having asymmetric rear tilts mean I use rear tilts far more than I should. One shot in particular had a skewed reflection of the moon as a result of this lazy habit!

Occasionally I might use a little rear swing and I often find myself using front (and less often, rear) shift. I shoot more intimate landscapes than I do vistas so using movements is pretty much par for the course, I find.