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numnutz
25-Sep-2008, 12:10
Hi I am using a Gandolfi Traditional 5 x 4. This camera has the ability to focus using the front standard and also the rear.

Can anyone explain the difference or the pros and cons of using either system?


Thanks in advance


nn :)

Vaughn
25-Sep-2008, 12:29
In landscape use, not a big difference, though there is some. In close-up work, changing the lens-to-object distance (using the front standard) changes the size of the object on the film a lot more. For example, if one is doing a full head portrait and the head is framed just right, it would be better to adjust focus in the back...if you needed to "zoom" out just a tad, you could move the front standard in a bunch and then re-focus with the back.

Hope I got that right -- if not, we'll find out soon! Lots of experience here in this forum!

Vaughn

Walter Calahan
25-Sep-2008, 13:03
I always focus with the rear standard. That's how my professor, who graduated from Brooks Institute, wanted use to focus.

Of course we were using a mono-rail view camera at the time. He always had us rack the front standard to the end of the rail, and focused from the rear. His logic was that you would never accidentally get the end of the rail jutting out from the bottom of your frame into the image.

And with very long lenses you won't be able to reach from behind the ground glass to focus with the front standard.

So that's how I've done it from that day forward.

Rafael Garcia
25-Sep-2008, 18:32
His logic was that you would never accidentally get the end of the rail jutting out from the bottom of your frame into the image.


...which looks like this!


http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h285/ragc01/river02e.jpg

Leonard Evens
25-Sep-2008, 21:02
When you move the front standard, you change the point of view or center of perspective, which in principle, you don't want to do. (I mean those terms in the technical rather than the metaphorical sense.) For distant subjects, the change is so small that it doesn't matter. But for close-ups it can make a difference.

Your camera may only provide geared focusing for one of the two standards. (My Toho FC-45X only has geared fine focusing on the rear standard.) In that case, you may be able to do the rough focusing with either standard but the fine focusing would have to be done with the standard that has the geared focusing.

A similar issue arises when you use rise/fall or shift. When you do them with the front standard, you will move the center of perspective. Again, for distant subjects the shift, relative to the scene, is so small that it can be ignored. If you tilt the front standard, you will change how the coverage relates to the frame, which is less of a problem when you tilt the back. On the other hand tilting the back changes the shapes of objects and the positions of vanishing points, which is usually a more serious problem than a slight change in the center of perspective.

C. D. Keth
25-Sep-2008, 23:47
For landscapes, I usually move the front just enough that the bed of the camera (a kodak 2D and a gundlach korona) is out of frame then focus with the back. It helps keep the camera as balanced as possible to keep the standards as far back near the tripod screw as I can.

Emmanuel BIGLER
26-Sep-2008, 04:48
I always focus with the rear standard. That's how my professor, who graduated from Brooks Institute, wanted use to focus.

And he was right.
The consequence is that the Linhof Techika is something you are allowed to touch _only_ after succeeding your photo exam ;)