Speed Graphic a View Camera or not?

[David de Gruyl]

Rolleiflex is a TLR... and therefore has a mirror (and a complete lack of viewing through the taking lens). I'll leave the rest of the post to "different definitions".

[redrockcoulee]

A Hasselblad also has you viewing ground glass through a mirror but it would not be in my mind a view camera although perhaps if you removed the back and used the ground glass it could be considered as being used as a view camera. A Crown Graphic is a press camera. A Shen Hao is a field camera and a Sinar is a monorail. All three sub types seem to be covered in all the books about view cameras.

Seneca Improveds have rear swing but not front tilt, Butcher and Sons has front tilt but not rear swing. Are they view cameras or do they just look and operate like one? And if a camera's movement breaks does it cease being a view camera?

[BrianShaw]

Perhaps this is a topic better suited for the "philosophy of photographic equipment" forum.

I tend to agree with Dan Fromm, mostly, though.

[John Kasaian]

Its a press camera since it was a popular camera for newspapermen with no time for tripods.
Its a view camera because you can also view through the lens.
Any more questions?

[BrianShaw]

Any more questions?

Yes, just one more, "Is that Hasselblad?"

[E. von Hoegh]

If it's designed to be handheld, it's not a view camera.

[IanG]

There's plenty of view cameras that have no rear movements or only limited rear movements, and some have very limited front movements as well.

Like others I've always thought of view cameras as being cameras that focus directly onto a ground glass screen which is moved to allow the fitting of a plate.film holder.

Perhaps it's Graflex themselves who muddied the water as they gave the name Crown View to a wooden camera with about the same degree of movements as a Crown Graphic, although the later Graphic View's were monorails with full movements.

The Crown View is a typical US style large format camera and similar to many other cameras from Agfa Ansco's, Korona's, Kodak's etc.

Maybe it's the other terms that are more important when describing cameras, Press, Technical, Field, Monorail, Studio ect, they are all View cameras.

Ian

[IanG]

If it's designed to be handheld, it's not a view camera.

How do you work that one out ?

Technical cameras like MPPs, Linhofs, Toyos (45A), Super Graphics etc are all very definitely view cameras yet all can be used on a tripod or handheld.

Ian

[Jay DeFehr]

My own definition is that a view camera is one in which the image is viewed directly on a ground glass, meaning, nothing else in the light path, like mirrors, prisms, etc. In other words, the designation, view camera, refers only to a particular viewing system. So a Speed Graphic can be called a view camera, and if it has a RF, it can also be called a rangefinder. It could also be called a folding camera, a bellows camera, and a press camera, as all of these taxonomic descriptors apply.

[IanG]

My own definition is that a view camera is one in which the image is viewed directly on a ground glass, meaning, nothing else in the light path, like mirrors, prisms, etc. In other words, the designation, view camera, refers only to a particular viewing system. So a Speed Graphic can be called a view camera, and if it has a RF, it can also be called a rangefinder. It could also be called a folding camera, a bellows camera, and a press camera, as all of these taxonomic descriptors apply.

Add to that many people also call them plate cameras.

Ian