Wanderlust 4x5 P&S

[Brian Bullen]

Thanks Steve for the detailed answer! Ben Syverson's first post states the helical travel as 20mm so if a Fuji SW f8 is used then basically there is only 10mm of travel left. That doesn't sound like much left over for close focusing. Of course stopping down to f32 or beyond will help bring in hyper focal , but for handheld that might limit ease of use.

[Steve Goldstein]

10mm of travel with a 90mm lens will allow you to focus at roughly 900mm, a shade under 3 feet. This may not prove to be much of a limitation in real life.

The f/6.8 Angulon will have 20mm of travel available, giving a closest focus of about 495mm. This is entering macro land at close to 1:5, so you might open up half a stop with transparency film.

[Dan Fromm]

Thanks Steve for the detailed answer! Ben Syverson's first post states the helical travel as 20mm so if a Fuji SW f8 is used then basically there is only 10mm of travel left. That doesn't sound like much left over for close focusing. Of course stopping down to f32 or beyond will help bring in hyper focal , but for handheld that might limit ease of use.

Sorry to be such an idiot, but I can't for the life of me see how you can put a point and shoot's plane of best focus where you want it when working close up.

[Ben Syverson]

Sorry to be such an idiot, but I can't for the life of me see how you can put a point and shoot's plane of best focus where you want it when working close up.

Perfectly valid question! My method involves a little one-time prep:

1. Put the camera on a tripod with an accessory rangefinder mounted about 1 meter away from a computer screen.
2. Set the rangefinder to 1 meter, and move the camera back and forth until the text on the screen lines up perfectly in the rangefinder patch.
3. Look through the lens using the ground glass, and focus the helical until the text on the screen is sharp.
4. Make a small mark on the front of the camera with a white china marker

The reason for this setup is that you can't 100% trust the distance markings on the rangefinder at the close end of its range.

When you're ready to shoot:

• Set the rangefinder to 1m
• Set the lens to your new mark
• Look through the RF and lean back and forth until the subject is focus.

I don't actually use a viewfinder at all—the RF shows the center of the frame, which is enough. If I'm shooting a portrait, I'll line up the RF on the eyes, and then tilt down just before taking the shot (to reduce headroom). If you put the patch on the horizon you'll minimize keystoning on buildings (or produce a 50/50 landscape).

I've tried another close focus trick borrowed from the cold war and Minox document photography—attach an arms-length piece of string to the camera, put the subject at the end of the string, and mark the focus. It works best for inanimate detail shots, since stretching a piece of string out to someone's face is rather off-putting.

[Brian Bullen]

Steve, thanks again, the helical travel math part of this is not something I'm familiar with. Is it just travel x fl= distance?

Dan, you're not an idiot. When I say close focus, I mean 2-5ft range and with a range finder, stopping down some and a 90mm on 4x5 this is totally realistic. It may not be razor sharp but the results would be more than adequate. If I wanted to ensure "perfect" focus I'd bring a tripod and probably a camera with movements.

[sperdynamite]

At 3 feet a 90 at f8 should give you half a foot DoF, and a whole foot at 16. Should be a pretty reasonable margin for error. However if I knew I was gonna work at minimum focus distance I'd probably use the ground glass. Even if the stock one only shows the center, I would think that nailing focus there and using the sport finder for overall composition will get you there... I'm sure Ben has done A LOT more with the camera though so default to his advice for sure. Half a foot wide open, 1 foot 1 stop down. :-)

BTW, The FINDlab is about to start doing a dev/scan workflow like they do with 120 and 35mm film. I believe they're going to be able to run E6 and C41/B&W and they'll provide a scan from their Imacon 848. Indie Film Lab already does this but it's nice to see another player. FINDlab scans are good for prints up to about 16x20 from smaller formats, and that's from their Frontier SP3k, the 848 should be way better. Check them out!

[Steve Goldstein]

Steve, thanks again, the helical travel math part of this is not something I'm familiar with. Is it just travel x fl= distance?

It's a little more complicated than that, but not horrible. (1/f1) + (1/f2) = 1/f.

f is the lens' focal length. f1 is the distance from the lens to the film, f2 is the distance from the lens to the subject. For the example I used earlier, f = 90 and f1 = 100, giving f2 = 900 (millimeters).

The above is accurate for a simple thin lens where distances are measured from the center of the lens. For real lenses you need to measure from the nodal points, of which there are two, front and rear. Practically speaking, though, measuring from the center of the shutter, about where the iris is located, will probably be good enough. Don't forget to stop down.

[Kuzano]

Gosh.... Is there going to be a TWGroup Forum, somehow connected with Wanderlust, so that one does not have to print out all these 234 pages for the information bits included here?

Maybe someone can cast a TWG club pin, looking of course like a TravelWide? Then maybe a BOD could be set up, and politics could come into play?

OK, maybe just the TWG forum.... a subset or forum of LFPI here?

[Kevin Crisp]

I signed up for the email notifications, as I'd like to buy one when generally available. But they don't send out updates.

[Ben Syverson]

I signed up for the email notifications, as I'd like to buy one when generally available. But they don't send out updates.

There's nothing to say to the general public at the moment. Stay on the list, and we'll let people know the minute you can preorder again!