Would I really need monorail?

[Hyok Kim]

I just bought a Meridian 45b, self-enclosing technical field camera with back movement and I read that it is very wa friendly.


My needs are basically...


1. Architectural photo from the outside of an entire building.

I would take 1. only at night, sunrise, sunset, or overcast days.

When taking at night, only with snows in the background, with no flash, only B&W, and only with extra long exposure.


When taking sunrise, sunset, or overcast days, only in color, with no snows in the background, no flash.

In both cases, narrowest aperture for wide DOF.

I definitely would use tripod for this.

2. Street portrait( I would be taking picture without them being aware) of people with interesting facial features, either face, or face and shoulder shot, with the foreground and backgroud blurred out.

When night, no snows in the background, B&W only, with no flash.

When sunrise, sunset, overcast days, color only, no snows, no flash.

In both cases, wide aperture for shallow DOF.


When taking with brilliant sunlit days, B&W only, no kill flash, medium aperture.

I may or may not use tripod for this.

[jose angel]

AFAIK, the Meridian has an internal focus rail that allow the use of short lenses. So depending on the size of the building, focus distance, lens used and movements needed, you could want or not a monorail with a bag bellows. For "normal" use, I think the Meridian is fine. Obviously, here the tripod should be a "non-detachable" part of the camera.

About the "candid", street shooting, I`d say it`s not the best task for a 4x5"; even being a press camera. To make it worst, you mix available (even low!) light, longer lenses (face, face& shoulders), fast apertures, etc. without tripod (!!!), and... Do you really think that people will not be aware of someone trying to deal with such camera? For that kind of task I`d get a D700 with a telezoom, not a 4x5" sheet film camera!!

It sounds like a joke, more than a real question. Well, PJs did it in the past, so... why not?

[Ari]

You might need a monorail if you find that the Meridian doesn't offer enough movements; folding tech cameras are great for their versatility and portability, but they can't do everything.
As Jose said, it's hard to be inconspicuous with a 4x5; for run-and-gun street photography, you'd be better off with a smaller format.

[Brian K]

For architecture rear movements come in handy, especially rear rise and fall. You can't do the easily with a flat bed, a monorail makes those movements easy.

[Bob Salomon]

Do you want to be able to control the shape of the building? In other words, if you have to tilt the camera up or down you will create converging lines. To correct them you need to make the back perpendicular to the building. To do this you need tilts and swings on the back (depending if the camera is tited to the subject or angled to the subject). These may need to be combined with rear rise/fall and front rise/fall.

So if you will need this type of control you may need a more advaced technical camera like a Linhof Technika which has limited rear tilts and swings or a monorail that has them. The Linhof TK has them and folds into a flat package for traveling.

[Hyok Kim]

About the "candid", street shooting, I`d say it`s not the best task for a 4x5"; even being a press camera. To make it worst, you mix available (even low!) light, longer lenses (face, face& shoulders), fast apertures, etc. without tripod (!!!),....."

I've seen some works, where it has been done very well. Using 4 x 5 Press Camera, B&W, at night, no flash, long focus length lense, so long as wide aperture and fast shutter was employed.

and... Do you really think that people will not be aware of someone trying to deal with such camera?

Obviously, it can be done. I've seen some street portraits of people taken with 4 x 5. Besides 4 x5 can't be beat for picture quality, and that's why I got into large format. Of course, it's a lot more work.

It sounds like a joke, more than a real question. Well, PJs did it in the past, so... why not?

No, it's not a joke.

[Hyok Kim]

For architecture rear movements come in handy, especially rear rise and fall. You can't do the easily with a flat bed, a monorail makes those movements easy.

Meridian has rear movement.

[Hyok Kim]

Do you want to be able to control the shape of the building? In other words, if you have to tilt the camera up or down you will create converging lines. To correct them you need to make the back perpendicular to the building. To do this you need tilts and swings on the back (depending if the camera is tited to the subject or angled to the subject). These may need to be combined with rear rise/fall and front rise/fall.

So if you will need this type of control you may need a more advaced technical camera like a Linhof Technika which has limited rear tilts and swings or a monorail that has them. The Linhof TK has them and folds into a flat package for traveling.

Meridian has back swing and tilt of about 15 degrees.

[Bob Salomon]

To give you an idea, the TK has 360° of front and rear optical axis swings and tilts as well as the ability to use lenses as short as 35mm.

[rdenney]

My suggestion is just use what you have. If you run into limitations, make note of them, and use them as requirements for your next camera. There are many monorail cameras at all price points that provide more movements (and easier to visualize movements) than even the most flexible of field/technical cameras. But that doesn't mean that the camera you have won't meet your particular needs.

I use monorails for nearly everything because I like the flexibility. But for hand-held work in large format, I have a press camera (a Speed Graphic). I rarely do that sort of work, and when I do it's mostly fun party-stuff with Fujiroid, but the price of the Speed was low enough to have for those occasions when it is most appropriate. There is no requirement that we have one single camera that can do everything, and in fact, that is probably the most expensive solution.

Rick "who'd rather have two cheaper cameras purpose-built for their different applications" Denney