front drop on a master techinka

[adrian tyler]

doing some work with a master technika and just like to check i'm not missing anything. to get front drop (i'm using w. 150 & 110), basically, 1. point the camera down 2. drop the bed down to the second position 3. swing the front lensboad back 4. swing the gg back till it lines up with the front lensboard.

ok, i think that is about as far as it'll go down without turniing it upside down or sideways, right? and you just have to align the front and back standard by eye, right?

thanks as always

adrian

[Gudmundur Ingolfsson]

For a front drop you turn the camera upside down. There is a tripod mount under the
viewfinder attachment. Then your front rise turns into a front drop.

[Ole Tjugen]

Drop the bed to the second position,

tilt the front all the way back,

Level camera.

There should be no reason to change the back tilt, if you want less drop use the front rise to adjust.

[David A. Goldfarb]

The easiest way is just to turn the camera upside down as suggested above. If I'm working somewhere that I think I'll need that feature a lot and I'm not using the rangefinder, I'll take off the accessory shoe where the viewfinder normally goes and put an extra QR plate there.

The indirect method also works if you don't need too much front drop, but you don't have to line them up by eye. I usually use a Suunto Tandem clinometer-compass, but a simple angle finder also works--

http://www.echonyc.com/~goldfarb/temp/anglefinder.jpg

[adrian tyler]

Drop the bed to the second position,

tilt the front all the way back,

Level camera.

There should be no reason to change the back tilt, if you want less drop use the front rise to adjust.

ok, i inderstand how that setup lines up, but if i drop the bed to the FIRST position and tilt the front AND back all the way back, it also looks lined up and the lens is a wee bit lower...

thanks!

[adrian tyler]

I usually use a Suunto Tandem clinometer-compass

useful tool, where did you get hold of that?

adrian

[David A. Goldfarb]

The one in the picture is an angle finder that I bought at a hardware store.

The Suunto clinometer-compass is more precise and has a compass for measuring the swing angle (presuming you don't have any magnetic parts on your camera), and you can also use it for determining the angle of the focal plane, if you like doing that sort of thing by calculation. I bought mine second hand from a satellite dish installer on eBay, where they come up pretty frequently. You could buy a new one on the internet from places that sell camping gear, measuring devices, satellite installation equipment, or surveying equipment.

[gregstidham]

Take the focus cam out before you drop the bed. It could bend.

[adrian tyler]

Take the focus cam out before you drop the bed. It could bend.

thanks, i didn't realise...