Looking for 4x5 field camera w/ lens axis tilt

[JohnGC]

A 4x5 Wisner technical field would give you both axis and base tilt on the front standard. You can find decent used ones for a pretty good price these days.

[John T]

Isn't the Carbon Infinity the only field camera with a compensation for nodal point? Ole?

[el french]

I suppose looking for a new 4x5 field camera gives a photographer a chance to obsess. Although I have greatly enjoyed my Shen-Hao, I am now looking for a field camera whose lens tilts from the axis (as opposed to the base). I am familar with the Walker Titan (although I welcome comments on this camera as well), but what other options could I consider? Thank you for your observations.
Chris Kleihege

How about just adding axis tilt to your current camera?

[ljb0904]

As I recall, the Shen-Hao doeas have axis tilt. Which model do you have?

[Gem Singer]

The Shen Hao HZX-45IIA and the TZ-45-IIB models have base tilt, only, on their front standards.

However, that's not a limitation. Front standard base tilt enables the operator to "focus on the far, tilt for the near, and fiddle with the focusing knob until every thing is clear".

This technique for expanding the plane of focus is simple to carry out using front base tilt. A little more difficult to carry out using front axis tilt, since the center of the image in the ground glass remains in focus while tilting.

[vwizz]

I just bought a Shen Hao PTB-45 which is, basically, a copy of the Chamonix 045N-1, and both do have axis tilt on the front end.
The chamonix is a fantastic camera.
The Shen Hao seems to have not so precise tolerances and a somehow slighlty lower quality but functionnaly they are 99% the same.
Someone mentionned the coupling between rise/fall and tilt. It is true that in some cases where you are doing a very precise setup, you have to be careful not to unscrew too brutally otherwise you might lose your front set-up
On that point it seems that the fonrt screw of the shen hao controlling fornt swing and side shift cannot be tightened as hard as on the Chamonix.
But that should be no issue as sometimes this is the best way to deal with coupled degrees of freedom.
And, for the price... (damn! the Shen Hao cost me approximately 400 euros, which is cheaper than a compact digital Panasonic LX-3... )

Best Regards,
V

[venchka]

Aye. And the seller may fail to point this out at the time of the sale.

Fortunately it's not a major PITA.

A bit of explanation re: Zone VI combined rise/fall and lens axis tilt:

The lensboard is locked with screws on both sides of the standard. Rise/fall is controlled by unlocking both screws. Tilt is controlled by unlocking one screw. Rise/fall remains unaffected. Once you get those things programmed in your brain, the camera works nicely. Unless you need to adjust rise/fall after adjusting tilt.

There is base tilt totally independant of the axis locking screws.

[Gary Beasley]

My Ebony has a double set of knobs on the front standard. The one closest in to the standard does the rise, the one next out does the tilt. Though it doesn't have shift on either standard you get an effective shift by swinging the front and rear the same direction, same degree, and turning the camera to face the lens forwards again.
Combining the axis and base tilts give you a large degree of flexibility in setting the camera up.

[Doremus Scudder]

Gem has a good point. With base tilts you actually have a larger distance between focusing points (i.e., one at the bottom of the gg, one at the top) than with axis tilts (one at the center of the gg and another at either top or bottom) thus making it inherently more accurate with fewer iterations. I find I often spend a lot less time with my base tilts than with the axis swings on my field cameras for that very reason.

When I first started with view-camera movements, axis tilts seemed more intuitive and, therefore, easier. However, with time and practice, I tend to like base tilts better simply because I can choose focus points that are farther apart and this tends to get me to the end of the process more quickly.

Maybe you should reconsider? Base-tilt only cameras have some advantages, primarily the simplicity of operation, light weight, compactness, fewer moving parts, etc. At any rate, just in case you want to stay with base tilts, here's my down-'n-dirty visual method of dealing with base tilts.

1. Always start by focusing at the bottom of the ground glass (this is usually the most distant point but not always...).

2. Loosen the tilt knobs and, while watching the top of the ground glass (I use 4 diopter reading glasses) tilt until the image at the top of the ground glass comes into focus. Don't stop there! Keep tilting until top and bottom are equally out of focus, then lock down.

3. Re-focus at the bottom of the ground glass. (Often, especially if you are good at estimating the degree of out-of-focusness in step 2 above, you will be right on. If not, you will be very close. Fine tune by doing the following

4. Check your focus point at the top of the ground glass (under the loupe is best now). If it is not right on, tweak the focus knob just a bit in either direction. If the focus gets better, tilt a tiny bit in that direction (e.g., if you made the bellows longer, then tilt accordingly), if worse, tilt a tiny bit in the opposite direction. At this point, your adjustments will be very small. Experience will teach you how much tilt you need with your particular camera.

5. Repeat 3 and 4 as needed, which should not be very much.

This works for both front and rear tilts. A little practice, and I'd wager that you will find this faster than dealing with axis tilts/swings.

Best,

Doremus Scudder

[Mike Tuomey]

Though it doesn't have shift on either standard you get an effective shift by swinging the front and rear the same direction, same degree, and turning the camera to face the lens forwards again.

Sorry this is OT, but I have to ask about the indirect shift: how do you ensure the swing is to the "same degree" front and rear? Eyeball it?