So, how often do you really use your camera's movements?

[rdenney]

I spent the last week on an island off the coast of Massachusetts that only the residents know. It's accessible only by small boat (after a ferry ride, and considerable and taxing pedestrian schleppage to get to that small boat), off-grid, and features many houses that were built in the 18th century, including the one in which my wife and I stayed. Needless to say, without any of the usual amenities (read: distractions), I was able to spend a lot of time with photography, for the first time in ages. Color film is off to the lab, and I'm looking forward to posting some of my recent work for once. It feels great to do some work.

I made about 15 photos using large format, fairly evenly divided between architectural, near-field landscapes and studies, and more distant landscapes. And I made 20 photos using the Pentax 6x7, and several times that many using the Canon (mostly when being shown other houses by our host, whose roots on that island go back 120 years and whose heritage in that vicinity goes back to the Pilgrims--she is elderly and I had to work fast when she was showing us the house her grandfather built, or the house her father built, etc., so as not to take advantage of her hospitality).

When movements were available to me (the lens I used most on the Canon was the 24mm TSE), I used them on a high percentage of photos, even on hand-held photos. With the 4x5 camera, I used every movement on the camera--rise, fall, shift (front and rear), and tilt and swing (front and rear), and with lenses of three different focal lengths. About halfway through, I wondered if I was just trapped by my knowledge of these tools, but realized that they were crucial to my visualization of the image, even when I was not seeking general sharpness.

This has always been true for me, and it's the thing that keeps me using large format. I did things with the Pentax 6x7, but mostly stuff that is hard to do with large format (such as using a fisheye). And I used the DSLR when I needed to work fast and unobtrusively. But for many images where I had the time to work slowly, I just knew they would not do.

I am not sure my Epson-scanned large-format images will have any more enlargeability than my Nikon-scanned rollfilm images, but that really isn't the point. I wonder if we defend large-format too much on the basis of resolution and detail, when for me it's the sheer flexibility of the camera to make the impossible possible. Sure, the Canon tilt-shift lens can do a lot, but it's only one focal length, and each lens with that capability costs more than my whole 4x5 kit. Nothing on the Pentax provides tilts and swings. Digital cameras with general movements are often limited to a single focal length, or are monstrously expensive.

As I prepare my images in the coming weeks and months, I'll have more to say about it. But it was a good reminder of why I do this.

Rick "who even did some black and white for the first time in years" Denney

[mdm]

I nearly always use rise and or front tilt (or back tilt if none on front), but not much else.

[Pawlowski6132]

Never

[William Whitaker]

Tuckernuck?

Movements are over-rated.

[BrianShaw]

Tuckernuck?

Movements are over-rated.

Well don't give the secret away... only the locals know about that!

... and about movements... I agree, sometimes necessary but not as often as some would lead others to believe.

[Greg Miller]

Almost 100%. My standard process with LF is to get the camera at roughly the correct height. Level the camera. Then use rise/fall to fine tune the framing. I hate it when I see people using LF and tilting the camera up or down (unless they are using back tilt to adjust converging line) or are purposely trying to distort the image. Even when trying to cause converging lines, I prefer to start with with everything squared and neutral, then use back movements get the results I want.

[Brian C. Miller]

Rick, you should have used the poll option.

All the time, even if it's a little bit. Honestly, movements are such a butt-saver it's just not funny. Movements are the main reason I got into LF. Really, for $500 for my SG I gained a big negative and movements. What's not to love?

[Kirk Gittings]

I level the camera and use rises and falls always, slight tilt on landscapes commonly everything else extremely rarely.

[Frank Petronio]

I switched from a near perfect Technika that I loved to a monorail because I wanted more (and easier to access) movements and by golly, I use em all!

[Mark Sawyer]

I tend to use fast lenses wide open doing close-ups, so swings and tilts are a basic part of focusing every time. Rise/fall and shift hardly ever. Depends on what youi're doing...