4x5 field camera with good movement/coverage

[dan otranto]

Does anyone have a recomendation for a 4x5 field camera that has good coverage when using a wide angle (90mm-105mm) lenses? I use front and rear tilt quite a bit, and after using a shen hao with a 90mm, I realized that this field camera has almost no coverage when using anything other than miniscule movement because it vignettes. I assume the tachihara is quite similar? does something like a wisner have some better design for this combonation or am I going to be stuck lugging around a monorail if I want this?

thanks

[Steve Hamley]

Dan,

Which lens are you talking about?

Steve

[Alan Davenport]

Is the vignetting you get coming from the camera or from the lens? You don't say what lens you're using, and there are a lot of 90mm lenses out there that barely cover 4x5 even when stopped down. I use a Tachihara with a SA90/8 and I can use tons of movements.

[steve simmons]

Cameras don't have coverage, lenses do. Are you sure the problem is the camera?

Which 90mm lens are you using? How much are you tilting? Generally with wide lenses the ecessary amout of tilt is quite small - certainly les than 10 degrees and much of the time less than 5. One of the mistakes beginners make is using too much tilt.

steve simmons

www.viewcamera.com (http://www.viewcamera.com)

[Steve Hamley]

Let's put this another way: if the vignetting is worse in the corners and is curved on the "inside" surfaces, you're looking at vignetting from a lack of lens coverage. Not camera/bellows vignetting.

Steve

[Gem Singer]

Hi Dan,

Cameras don't vignette, lenses do. Perhaps you are referring to your 90mm lens including the front edge of the focusing rack in the picture. If so, merely slide the back of the Shen Hao all the way forward, then focus with the front focusing knob.

If you are finding that the bellows is too stiff because it is tightly compressed, and it is limiting the movement of the lens, use the the interchangeable bag (wide angle) bellows with that focal length lens.

Other than those suggestions, it's difficult to figure out where your problem lies. I had no problem using an f8 90 on the 4X5 Shen Hao.

[dan otranto]

hmm, i dont know what kind of lens it is besides it being a 90mm. I dont know anything about 4x5 lenses really. Im looking to get probably a tachihara and would like to use a 90- whats a good (very sharp) lens that will cover well?

thanks

[dan otranto]

oh yeah, id like something kinda fast (like an 5.6, 9 is a bit slow ive found out)
i use the rear tilt for making stuff like table legs and buildings parallel, it seems easier than using rise/fall to do this

[Donald Hutton]

A Nikkor 90mm SW f1:8 will have more movement available than most field cameras provide and is a relatively cheap quality 90mm lens. However, for landscape photography (and I'm guessing thats where you are at, given your choice of camera is a wooden field camera) you could do just as well with a lens which offers less coverage - a Caltar 90mm f6.8 is a re-badged Rodenstock Grandagon and is excellent quality at a very good price point. It offers slightly less coverage than the Nikkor but is half a stop faster.

[MacGregor Anderson]

Just an aside. I managed to vignette with my camera just the other day. 300mm Nikon lens, vertical back orientation, lots of front fall. A straight line cut off the bottom 1/8 or so of three negatives.

I checked later by recreating the setup and by removing the ground glass plate. Sure enough, with that much fall (camera bed tilted down, base tilts and axis tilts getting the standards perpendicular to the ground) the bellows near the rear standard got in the way.

Why didn't I spot this on the ground glass? It was pretty darn dark out, EVs in the 3 to 6 range. Plus, I'm an idiot.

But it is possible. Harder to picture with wide angle though.

Mac

[dan otranto]

"A Nikkor 90mm SW f1:8 will have more movement available than most field cameras provide and is a relatively cheap quality 90mm lens. However, for landscape photography (and I'm guessing thats where you are at, given your choice of camera is a wooden field camera) you could do just as well with a lens which offers less coverage - a Caltar 90mm f6.8 is a re-badged Rodenstock Grandagon and is excellent quality at a very good price point. It offers slightly less coverage than the Nikkor but is half a stop faster."

where can I get a caltar 90mm?

[Gem Singer]

Dan,

Midwest Photo Exchange has a reasonably priced, previously owned f6.8 Grandagon listed on their website (www.mpex.com (http://www.mpex.com)). Call, or send an E-mail to Jim (jim@mpex.com (mailto:jim@mpex.com)). If you call, only speak to Jim. He is also a direct Tachihara dealer and can offer you a package deal on a camera and lens combination.

[steve simmons]

To the best of my knowlwedge Nikkor/Nikon does not make a 90mm F1. 8 lens.

Caltars are not necessarily Rodenstock lenses. It depends on when they were made.

Before you buy a camera may I suggest some reading

There are several articles in the Free Articles secton of our web site thatwill be helpful

www.viewcamera.com (http://www.viewcamera.com)

Here are some books

Use's Guide to the View Camera by Jim Stone

Large Format Nature Photogaphyby JackDykinga

Using the View Camera that I wrote

There is another book called View Camera Technique. IMHO this makes abetter longterm reference book than an intro guide.

steve simmons

[Tom Perkins]

If I understand your question, it may be that the problem is with the bellows and not with the lens. A triple extension field camera, with one or two exceptions, is going to need a bag bellows to give you the flexibility to move a wide angle lens around. Take a look at the Wista DX cameras, light and well made, which only go to 300 mm at the long end, but can handle a 90 with lots of movement and no bag bellows.

[Donald Hutton]

Steve

If you check (read) my post carefully, you'll note that the lens I referred to had an aperture of f1:8, which is in fact the notation used by the manufacturers themselves.

The Caltar to which I was referring is the current Caltar II-N 90mm 1:6.8 (hope you find the notation agreeable). It is a re-badged Rodenstock Grandagon. As far as I can tell (in fact from an article appearing in your magazine) all current Caltar lenses are manufactured by Rodenstock and have been for a few years.

[Michael S. Briggs]

Dan, are you sure that the 90 mm lens that you are using is intended for 4x5? Are you saying that your 90 mm lens has an f9 max aperture? I can't think of a 90 mm lens for 4x5 with that aperture. You might want to post the info that is written on the lens so that we can identify and comment on lens that you already have. Perhaps the vignetting is from the lens and not the Shen Hao camera.

[dan otranto]

cool, ill order one of those caltar II-n90 6.8s

oh, can the tachihara close up with that 90mm or do you have to mount the lens each time?

[Donald Hutton]

Dan

It's not the most compact lens - so I doubt you'll be able to fold it inside the camera. Give Jim a call - he'll likely be able to offer you a variety of options at a variety of prices.

[dan otranto]

k, thanks a lot-

dan

[Alan Davenport]

At the risk of incurring the wrath of his detractors, I'll go ahead and say that Steve Simmons' book, Using the View Camera is a must-have. I agree with Steve's assessment of Stroebel's View Camera Technique also; it is an excellent reference but not well suited to most neophytes.

To that, I'll add Adams' The Camera which has most of the relevant information, straight from St. Ansel himself.

As long as you're online, spend some time perusing Harold Merklinger's excellent pages devoted to view camera focus and movements. Merklinger spent a lot of time promoting his "Hinge Rule" (a corollary of Scheimpflug) but in between those excursions are a lot of wonderful explanations as to how these things actually work. Especially valuable are several small animations he includes showing how various movements change the plane of focus. When I first decided to dabble in large format (which is, arguably, all I've done) I found Merklinger's web pages among the best.

[Alan Davenport]

Harold Merklinger's web pages can be found here. (http://www.trenholm.org/hmmerk/index.html)

[Sharon S.]

You may want to check to see if the rear lens element of the lens will fit through the front standard of your camera. some of the 90mm lenses have huge rear elements (90mm SAXL f5.6, for example)...