Ebony Focusing - the three hands problem

[Ed Richards]

Everything about my Ebony is well thoughtout - except the focusing. Clearly the camera was either designed by a photograrapher with three hands or an engineer who does not take pictures. Unlock on one side and focus on the other means you are constantly changing hands with the loupe. Front tilt/swing is even more maddening. I have taken to grapping the front standard with my left hand and dragging it to focus. Any good workarounds? Sinar has the right idea - all the controls on the same side. But my F2 and the requisit tripod weigh a ton in comparison. Any field cameras have the controls on one side?

[Eric James]

One thing you can do is to achieve fine focus with significant tension on the locking knob(s) (i.e. friction on the rails). Once you've achieved focus you can come up for air without worrying about accidentally bumping things out of focus. On my Ebony I lock the rails into place while holding fast the position of the focusing knob, because tightening the locking knobs securely will shift focus. This can be done under the cloth, but I prefer to tighen things down after I've come up for air.

A similar strategy can be used with front and rear tilt. I'll loosen the knobs enough to get the standard out of the null position and then retightened significantly; now use this resistance to slowly nudge your way to the best plane of focus for your composition, then lock down hard and fast.

Another thing that helps with focusing and movement is to use high-powered reading glasses (+5 to +7) instead of a loupe - no more need for the third hand. Once I think I'm good-to-go I'll add more tension to the rails and then check for critical focus with a loupe. Once critical focus is achieved I come up for air and turn the locking knob(s) tight while holding the focusing knob in position to prevent inadvertent focus shift.

[Leigh]

I don't understand the problem.

All three of my field cameras have locks on the left and adjustments on the right. I've never needed more than two hands to do anything.

- Leigh

[Joanna Carter]

If you need to keep locking and unlocking the focus spindles, then your rail clamps are too loose. You are dealing with a wooden camera, where the rails tend to expand and contract, depending on the temperature and humidity; simply pinch up the screws on the rail clamps to grip the rail more but don't forget that you may have to loosen them again when the weather changes.

[Vlad Soare]

I second that. The camera should be able to hold the focus even if you don't lock it down. The focus lock is just an extra safety device. You shouldn't need to use it during the focusing step. Just loosen it, then do all your focus/tilt/shift/refocus/more tilt/refocus/etc. routine, then lock it down.
I believe Ebonies allow you to adjust the tension in the focusing rails. Mine did.

[Former Member 27732]

I made a simple modification on the back of my SV45ti to hold a Cambo reflex viewer. Probably not as good as the loupe, but frees up both hands for focus/shift/tilt, etc.....

[Joanna Carter]

I made a simple modification on the back of my SV45ti to hold a Cambo reflex viewer. Probably not as good as the loupe, but frees up both hands for focus/shift/tilt, etc.....

Ah well, each to their own

[George Hart]

Another possibility is that you may not be levelling the camera before you unlock the standards and focus, so the standards are free to move under the effect of gravity. This is a flatbed camera—would you be better off using a monorail with a geared focus arrangement?

[Joanna Carter]

Another possibility is that you may not be levelling the camera before you unlock the standards and focus, so the standards are free to move under the effect of gravity. This is a flatbed camera—would you be better off using a monorail with a geared focus arrangement?

When the rail clamps are correctly adjusted, on an Ebony, there is no slippage, even when the bed is tilted.

[Ed Richards]

I always level first, but tightening the rails is a good thought. Mine are a bit loose. What i mean about front movements is that if I do not lock down the focus, I tend to move the standard when I am fiddling with the tilt or swing. When the movements are on the same side you just keep the loupe in one hand and adjust with the other.