Large format photography with Nikon D800

[Frank Petronio]

A digital camera works well for testing lighting and composition. You can also get useful exposure information from it but you need to temper that with experience, traditional meters, good judgement. But I use them all the time and for a commercial shoot I wouldn't be without one for testing.

The nice thing about instant film backs that are the same or almost the same size as your film is that you can test the actual camera for bellows factor, lens flare, light leaks, etc. Luckily we still have Fuji Instant in ISO 100 medium format size... it isn't an ideal solution but it is good, consistent film and at least you can test the camera set-up with it.

Sticking even a full-frame 24mmx36mm sensor onto the back of a ~100mm x ~125mm film camera simply isn't going to tell you much and you are going to be introducing more issues trying to use it.

I hate to say, "That's the way it is done by the pros" but it is.

[Corran]

f22 and iso 100 is f22 and iso 100, use the iso dial or exp compensation for any bellows factor. not a big deal. Not sure how attaching a heavy camera to the back of your heavy camera, changing the bellows to a bag bellows to accomodate the ultra short lens needed to to get the same field of view, moving the standards around to focus the tiny 24mmx36mm sensor, then switching it all back to shoot a piece of film would get one very far either.

That's not necessarily true with digital, regarding the ISO setting.

Apparently certain ISO settings aren't the actual true value being displayed, depending on the camera and specific ISO. Try it out. You'll see your shutter speeds won't change by a full stop between supposedly full stop increments of sensitivity. I believe this is more of an issue at the lowest and highest settings. But if you're metering at ISO 100 that's the lowest on most cameras.

It might be semantics that would only account for 2/3 of a stop in light, but, I think it's important to note. I noticed that when I "metered" with my DSLR I got inconsistent results.

[welly]

That's not necessarily true with digital, regarding the ISO setting.

Apparently certain ISO settings aren't the actual true value being displayed, depending on the camera and specific ISO. Try it out. You'll see your shutter speeds won't change by a full stop between supposedly full stop increments of sensitivity. I believe this is more of an issue at the lowest and highest settings. But if you're metering at ISO 100 that's the lowest on most cameras.

It might be semantics that would only account for 2/3 of a stop in light, but, I think it's important to note. I noticed that when I "metered" with my DSLR I got inconsistent results.

That's been my experience of metering with digital. I did a test shot using the values straight out of a Canon 400d, the exposure was a mile off. I'm not sure if it's Fujiroid FP-100c but it was at least a stop under exposed on the Fuji paper as compared with the shot from the Canon. But I guess as long as it's consistently off (I haven't tried) then you can adjust to suit.

[E. von Hoegh]

Contradiction in terms.

[Sylvester Graham]

What's really shocking is the obesity of that cat.

[jose angel]

Well, I also wonder why people in this kind of "tests", always show short-bodied cameras with the battery grip attached... do they really use it all the time? And on a D800... ?!?! Pure fetishism...

I`d like to see the other side of the board where the extension tube is attached.

[Linhof]

I would use my view camera whenever I need camera movement to correction perspective and of course to shoot 4x5" or 8x10" film. I did try to attach a SLR camera to 4x5 camera in the past but this exercise is just for fun only. One of the problem is I don't have a 28mm or even 24mm lens for 24x36mm format or even even I use current digitar lens, the camera movement allowed in my Linhof 2000 is not enough.

[Leigh]

That is NOT an LF camera.

It's a D800 with a bellows.

- Leigh

[eric black]

Get one of those adapter thingees so it can position the dig camera in the corners of the frame as well as one for the middle and you have the makings for a great lens tester with more immediate feedback- thats about the only real use I can think of for that kind of apparatus.

[TheDeardorffGuy]

That is NOT an LF camera.

It's a D800 with a bellows.

- Leigh

Perfect reply. I've been doing this since 1982.
I used Kodachrome. all it can really do is test the center of the lens. It was fun but only got tests done. Theres just too much space for a short lens. But it sure did mighty micro work if you could stop the vibrations.