slr "stitching back" for LF?

[button]

I have an idea for a type of slr stitching back setup: please tell me if this might work, as I am totally new to LF, and don't know much about it.

Imagine an LF lens mounted on a lens plate, with an adjustable length arm attached to the plate just below (or above) the lens at a single mobile point, which extends behind the lens and is attached to an SLR camera, with its mirror box exposed, such that the mirror box (front of the SLR) were pointed toward the back of the LF lens. Now, mount the lensplate on a tripod and cover the whole thing with bag bellows. If this SLR/arm were moved around the focal area of the lens, and exposures taken, would this solution fix the "off axis" mirror box light falloff that happens to the x/y stitching back SLR devices out there? What would be the effect of lengthening/shortening the arm?

I guess this boils down to whether or not LF lenses are engineered to focus on a plane or a hemisphere. Any thoughts?


John

[Dave Jeffery]

http://digitalphotography.weblogsinc...amera-bellows/

[Jim Galli]

John, your idea is very sound. Years ago Burke & James sold similar backs for 5X7 and 8X10 that could slide to different positions and make several portraits on a single piece of film. So in that time frame, it was film of course, but you could slide a rollfilm holder with 6X6 area to 9 different places on an 8X10 sheet for 9 different pictures on one film. Your idea is similar but you would have the benefit of TTL viewing while sliding to each successive position. Registration would always be perfect as you're simply moving around to different parts of the single image the lens is transmitting. If you could find one of those old backs and remove all the ball bearing slide stops so you were just manually sliding over to the next spot as you're looking at it, it might work great.

[Jim Galli]

Here are a couple of pages from my 1963 B&J catalog that explain how these worked. Registration is surprisingly solid. They're worth almost zero when they turn up on ebay as there is no modern use for them.











Had to leave those files kind of big so you could read all the small print.

[Donald Miller]

Excuse me for asking but aren't you in effect reinventing the wheel.

http://www.nodalninja.com/

I have one of these (NN5) and it is perfectly capable of stitching much more than what you would do with a view camera. I have worked with greater than 300 MP scans pretty regularly. This is not limited to panoramic shots. I normally stitch three horizontal rows and sixteen vertical rows with 12.8 MP capture and 20% overlap that comes to 490 MP.

With the perspective control tools in PS there is nothing to be gained from what you are wishing to do...unless I am really missing something here.

Good luck with what you want to accomplish.

Donald Miller

[Greg Lockrey]

My poor-man's scanner:

But like Donald mentioned, the second solution is easier and you can get much larger files.

[button]

Excuse me for asking but aren't you in effect reinventing the wheel.

http://www.nodalninja.com/

I have one of these (NN5) and it is perfectly capable of stitching much more than what you would do with a view camera. I have worked with greater than 300 MP scans pretty regularly. This is not limited to panoramic shots. I normally stitch three horizontal rows and sixteen vertical rows with 12.8 MP capture and 20% overlap that comes to 490 MP.

With the perspective control tools in PS there is nothing to be gained from what you are wishing to do...unless I am really missing something here.

Good luck with what you want to accomplish.

Donald Miller

Donald, your point is well taken. I currently own a Nodal Ninja 5 as well, and the limitation that I'm trying to overcome is the requirement to "focus stack" multiple images to achieve what one can with the tilt of a view camera. Why does this matter? Speed. In fading light, there are only a few minutes max during which we can work to get that "magic shot," and taking more than 15-20 exposures takes a good bit of time. I've looked into using a T/S lens with the NN5, but from what I gather, the time required to change the tilt between horizontal rows is prohibitive. My goal is to create a file that I can print at 36" x 36" at 300 dpi. Maybe I'm missing something?

John

[Bob Salomon]

Donald, your point is well taken. I currently own a Nodal Ninja 5 as well, and the limitation that I'm trying to overcome is the requirement to "focus stack" multiple images to achieve what one can with the tilt of a view camera. Why does this matter? Speed. In fading light, there are only a few minutes max during which we can work to get that "magic shot," and taking more than 15-20 exposures takes a good bit of time. I've looked into using a T/S lens with the NN5, but from what I gather, the time required to change the tilt between horizontal rows is prohibitive. My goal is to create a file that I can print at 36" x 36" at 300 dpi. Maybe I'm missing something?

John

Novoflex makes the PROSHIFT+ shift back which accepts any 35mm or DSLR camera. It in turn mounts to either the Novoflex BALPRO T/S tilt shift bellows or to the standard Novoflex BALPRO bellows. These bellows accepts any 35mm or DSLR lens, most medium format lenses, C mount lenses, microscope lenses or dedicated Novoflex lenses that will focus from macro to infinity.

If it is just a matter of stitching with a DSLR Novoflex makes two different VR systems; the VR and the VR PRO. In addition, if it is just a matter of precisely positioning a camera from side to side Novoflex makes several positioning devices for cameras or equipment. the CASTEL MINI, CASTEL Q, CASTEL L and the CASTEL XL.

[routlaw]

There are two other options worth exploring depending upon your budget and how much weight you want to carry around. Currently I am using one of these with my D3 and getting superb results (when I get my act together correctly) in the field.

Cambo has the X2 Pro, that can be used with a litany of different dSLR's and the real caveat is one can also use many of the Rodenstock or Schneider digital lenses with these setups. I will just cut to the chase and say Nikon or Canon has never made a piece of glass that images like any of these lenses no matter what the lens is and I have tried em all including their newest nano coated lenses. They are nice but not even vaguely on the same level as the digital lenses from Germany.

The other option, similar to the Horseman posted earlier, is the Cambo Ultima 23/35 view camera which I am using. Its much heavier, but its also much more versatile and the beauty here is one can move the rear standard around eliminating any parallax errors stitching as many or as little frames as you like. The files can get to be huge, but with the Rodenstock 105 digital if I shift and rise and fall to the max with 9-12 different frames the final image will provide the rough equivalent view of a 35-38 mm lens on a FF 35mm camera. Personally I don't have a huge interest in pano type of images though occasionally do this, but rather stick to the 2x3 or 4x5 type of format and on many occasions just settle for a square format in post production.

Its takes awhile in the field to setup your image this way, but the final outcome is well worth the effort though I will admit this is not the most fluid method of working as in one could setup a 4x5 field camera in far less time and shoot 3-4 sheets and be done with it. I just got the word from my local lab the other day though that E-6 is going up 50% in price and will only run every other day now. This on top of the already increased price of film. I have no doubts it will only get worse as fewer and fewer people use film and eventually would have to send my film to out of state labs.

Not sure how much fun I would have lugging the whole thing around in an environment like Glacier NP with the steep and deep trails there either but plan to give it a try this summer.

The image below is one shot the other day with 9 frames for a final of 150 mb.

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...attach/jpg.gif

[button]

Thanks everyone for the replies. So it seems that SLR mirror box light falloff with these stitching backs is a non-issue?

John