View Camera Focusing and the Scheimpflug Principle

[E. von Hoegh]

Just point the camera at the wall, make all three planes parralel, and apply front rise. Scheimpflug isn't for every situation.

[ghostcount]

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Japanese Maple in Autumn
...

Rick, very impressive. Another proof patience has it's rewards. Bravo!

[Leigh]

Since the camera is not level...
Tilting the front standard back slightly

First problem...
You must always start with the tripod and the camera level on both left/right and front/back axes.
You can make adjustments subsequently, but you need a known starting point.

Second problem...
Tilting the lensboard back totally screws up the SP.
It places the line of intersection between the film plane and the lensboard plane ABOVE the camera,
which means that the plane of sharp focus will go through that line, i.e. in empty air.

Standard setup for architecture or other tall subject:
Set the camera and tripod both level.
Focus on the subject.
Use front rise to bring the top of the subject into view.
If the camera rise is insufficient, tilt the entire camera up at the front, using the tripod head, then reset the back vertical. (This is why you don't use a ball head.)

Adjust front tilt as needed to implement SP, bringing desired features (particularly foreground) into focus.
The required lensboard tilt is very slight except in highly unusual circumstances.

HTH

- Leigh

[David Lobato]

First problem...
You must always start with the tripod and the camera level on both left/right and front/back axes.
You can make adjustments subsequently, but you need a known starting point.

Second problem...
Tilting the lensboard back totally screws up the SP.
It places the line of intersection between the film plane and the lensboard plane ABOVE the camera,
which means that the plane of sharp focus will go through that line, i.e. in empty air.

Standard setup for architecture or other tall subject:
Set the camera and tripod both level.
Focus on the subject.
Use front rise to bring the top of the subject into view.
If the camera rise is insufficient, tilt the entire camera up at the front, using the tripod head, then reset the back vertical. (This is why you don't use a ball head.)

Adjust front tilt as needed to implement SP, bringing desired features (particularly foreground) into focus.
The required lensboard tilt is very slight except in highly unusual circumstances.

HTH

- Leigh

I second everything Leigh says; adding, start with the camera at the zero settings on the controls. Do not try to guess an amount of tilt before setting up, or else you risk getting hopelessly confused under the dark cloth. For lenses 150mm and under, tilt in outdoor situations is quite small. Work methodically and thoughtfully on each step of the process, beginning with planting the tripod. This is a prime example of when "a shortcut can be the longest distance between two points". Don't fear making a mistake, simply go back a step or two in the process and try again. Before long, setup will be second nature, and you can concentrate more on light metering and composition.

[Leigh]

I second everything Leigh says; adding, start with the camera at the zero settings on the controls.

Yep. I forgot that.

- Leigh

[Jim Jones]

When tilting the front standard, one can exceed the coverage of many lenses, leading to unsharpness in an image edge. Unless the lens has more coverage than needed, try to keep the axis of the lens pointed fairly near the center of the ground glass.

[Leigh]

Image circle is a consideration in all situations, even with no movements.

- Leigh

[E. von Hoegh]

A general rule is that front movements eat the image circle at a rapid pace while rear movements do not place any demands upon image circle.

If you have cut corners on your GG, you can peer through the open corners at the lens at working aperture - if you see the whole diaphragm as a clear circle, you're still good. If the opening looks like a cat's pupil, you've gone too far.

[Lon Overacker]

...why doesn't the entire scene, if done correctly, come into perfect, sharp focus on the GG?

Maybe I missed someone's answer already, but it seems to me that the simple answer to this question is being missed. Other than photographing a perfectly flat surface and having everything perfectly lined up in parallel, you will never ever get the entire scene on the GG in exact focus. The only thing exactly in focus is whatever lies in the "plane of focus." Depth of field, tiny apertures is what brings everything else in to "acceptable focus" in front and behind the plane of focus.

I did a write up on this that may help - especially since it has examples where you can visualize it much better than any written explanations can do. I'm not a technical photographer really so some of you gurus might find some things that aren't exactly correct, but I did my best and the intended audience is of course someone new to LF. If anyone takes a look and finds something that needs to be corrected, feel free to drop me a note. tx

Hope this helps.

Lon

[Leigh]

Other than photographing a perfectly flat surface and having everything perfectly lined up in parallel, you will never ever get the entire scene on the GG in exact focus.

Sorry, but that's not true.

You can photograph a ramp and have the entire surface in focus.
You can even have a building at the end, and people on the ramp, all in focus.

This does not depend on extremely small apertures.
It's a simple application of Scheimpflug.

- Leigh