Ebony 45S and verticals issue

[Steve H]

I bought an Ebony 45S and a Schneider 90XL a few months back and have had very pleasing results with landscapes so far, however, I've attempted some interiors and have had difficulty aligning the verticals. After some deliberation I can align the horizontals of the subject image to the screen grid but only either the left or the right hand side on the verticals.
I'm not sure whether it's a camera problem or a photographer problem, I suspect the latter.
I've tried a few movements, double and triple checked the levels and all I can assume is that I'm not flush with the subject. Though I have noticed the lens plane/panel sits kind of sloppily sometimes after using front rise.
The distortion I see is a slightly sloping vertical in comparison with the plumb vertical on the opposite side, and though it's only minimal, on the end result it's glaringly obvious.
So assuming it techinque thats at fault what on earth am I not doing? It's driving me nuts....
Cheers, Steve

[Wilbur Wong]

If left or right is vertical, and the other is not, of course you can rotate the camera (side to side) so the other is vertical, where upon the first goes off.

A basic question is do your verticals converge toward the ceiling or toward the floor.

If they converge (get closer together) as the verticals approach the ceiling, than the camera is pointing upward, in other words, the back or film plane of the camera is "leaning backward". In that case tilt the camera forward until the film plane is exactly up and down. If your subject isn't centered, than use rise or fall only to reposition the framing, or raise or lower the entire camera on the tripod.

If your verticals converged toward the floor, you would tilt the camera backward instead. I know of some photographers who buy a little 6 inch long torpedo level at a hardware store (they're only a few dollars) to help establish level.

[Ernest Purdum]

It sounds to me as though the camera back is not precisely parallel to the wall in your subject. Both left and right verticals are, therefore, converging. As a result, you can use one side as a reference and line it up, but this will only aggravate the tilt of the other side.

If this is the case, the question becomes why is the back not parallel to the wall? Are you depending on a built-in level? If so, try a hand-held level. Have you tried checking with a level after inserting your film holder?

[George Hart]

Steve, I have the same camera and here are 2 suggestions (both possibly wrong or inappropriate!) Make sure that the front and back standards are exactly parallel at the bellows extension that you are using. In my experience if you use the front shift/swing movements and then re-zero the standard, it may not be quite true even at nominal zero position. I'm talking of a fraction of a millimeter, but enough to affect the plane of focus esp if the lens is used wide open. My quick and dirty way of checking this is to insert a CD box between the front & back standards, each side at a time.

I have also found with very short lenses, and it's possible that the 90 is too long for this to happen, that when lifting the lens panel to obtain front rise, the buckling of the bellows can tend to push the top of the front standard forwards. Again it's by a very small amount, but possibly enough to cause your problem.

With a bit of experimentation, you should be able to get it sorted -- it's a fine camera!

[Michael Veit]

Consider everything suggested so far, but if you still end up running in circles with it, attack the problem backwards: level the camera back visually by way of lining up verticals to the grid, find a place and position on the back where a separate bullet level placed on it shows as being level and then use that particular level, place and position to set up future shots.

[Steve H]

Thanks for the replies, I'll try a seperate level first.



I've just had another attempt using my front room, once again the extreme left hand vertical on the grid is plumb, the central ones look fine but the one on the right is slightly out towards the bottom of the ground glass, and i mean by only a mm.



Regarding the front standard it would appear that when using the front rise and tightening up, one side is dropping a little which I guess may well be the problem, it seems quite awkward to tighten up level. Maybe it's an art I've yet to master.



George-You're right, it's a beautiful camera, I take it for more weekends away than i do the mrs.



Cheers...