Cesar Barreto
11-Nov-2008, 19:40
There has been a lot of talking on the last few days about panoramic cameras and as I had the chance, me and a partner, to travel 45 days shooting with 3 different cameras, I thought it could be useful to offer some lines about this experience.
(As I'm not a native english speaker, I hope you forgive me some mispelling or lack of clarity).
My partner has a new Linhof and a single 90/5.6, a superb lens on a very beautiful camera. There isn't much to say about this camera, as it's possibly the best known of the crowd, but in comparison there will be some interesting thoughts about it.
I had just bought a Da Yi camera, wich came with cones for a XL80/4.5 and a small Nikkor 150/5,6. This model offers ground glass focusing, interchangeable backs and I asked for a zoom viewfinder, wich covers from 90 to 270mm. And I was also carrying a big and old Tomiyama Art-panorama 6x24 camera, a workhorse set with a trustful Nikkor 120/8.
During this job, we were shooting the whole estate of Ceará, in Brazil northeast, including every kind of landscape, from sand dunes to waterfalls, windy beaches to almost desert places, and also urbans sceanes, industries, raves and so on. Most of the time we were nicely shooting with cameras set on tripods, but on lot of occasions we had to climb on the top of the car, on walls, towers, use boats or whatever came on hands for specific shots. So we were trully testing our skills and equipment.
The Da Yi camera proved to be a delight on everyday use, wich doesn't mean it's perfect, far from it. But it handles so good, that many times I actually did prefer to shoot on handheld way, trusting loosely on the viewfinder. I say loosely because it doesn't cover 80mm lens and also shows some distortion, but during action shots, it was rather welcome.
Most of the times, however, I did prefer to use the ground-glass, mainly because that's the only way one can frame with some precision after using a bit of shift. It should be noticed that this camera just has a rise option, but if one needs it's possible to use a tripod socket wich fits over the camera to work with it upside down. It's a clever solution and works fine, meaning just a couple of minutes to set the trick.
Long ago I had an old Linhof camera and just like what happens when using the Art 6x24, I miss lens movement a lot.
Setting the glass view-finder is easy and fast, but although it comes with a collapsible hood, I still found necessary to use a dark-cloth. Changing to film back is also fast and I think that's a most welcome option. Most of the time I don't need and neither want to spend 4 or more frames (it can also be used with 6x12 and 6x14 formats) on the same scene or without careful focusing and framing.
My Art-panorama has a ground-glass wich can be held on place with fingers, but once the film is on place, ciao! It cames with a infinity stop set for the 120mm lens and a focusing knob, wich makes things easier, but as I've been using also a 90mm for 6x17 format, I had to disable those things and just trust on the glass viewfinder.
There's some to say about the cones wich came with Da Yi camera. They both work, but care should be taken about the infinity stop set on the focusing ring. After careful checking I found they need some correction, wich happily meant only a simple matter of loosing 2 or 3 screws and setting a new stop.
I had some trouble with light bouncing inside the camera or the cone itself while using the wide-angle lens, something I still have to find out and fix with some baffling device.
Another serious issue came when I discovered that the minimum focusing distance with the 150mm cone is a huge 5 meters (bye-bye,so long, farewell macro-photos!). With the 80mm adapter it's a bit shorter at 2m, but still too far for my taste.
At this point, I should say that I favor bellows instead of cones. The Art camera uses conventional Linhof plates, with just a round cut on the base to allow room for the focusing axis. Changing lenses is easier and carrying more then 2 cones can be a burden, not exactly on weight but on space it takes on one's bag.
So, if I had to select the best camera I would keep two! But possibly neither of those three (or maybe, if I just can set better cones for the Da Yi camera).
Linhof cameras are fantastic, so precise and well built, but can be heavy and will never be cheap. New models with shift controls are appealing and wish I could afford one with a couple of cones. But...
The chinese beauty shows its charm mainly on your bank account, but can be a nice working companion on the field. Not so strong and built like a jeep, but if feels good on hands and make beautiful pictures if you take care. It's versatility is a must, depending on accessories of course, but I wish every camera had the same.
Now I'm curious about the new Shen-Hao, because I think it offers most of what I need on a camera and also it fits my way of shooting. Will that be the third one?
Well, I hope it can be useful to someone.
Cesar B.
(As I'm not a native english speaker, I hope you forgive me some mispelling or lack of clarity).
My partner has a new Linhof and a single 90/5.6, a superb lens on a very beautiful camera. There isn't much to say about this camera, as it's possibly the best known of the crowd, but in comparison there will be some interesting thoughts about it.
I had just bought a Da Yi camera, wich came with cones for a XL80/4.5 and a small Nikkor 150/5,6. This model offers ground glass focusing, interchangeable backs and I asked for a zoom viewfinder, wich covers from 90 to 270mm. And I was also carrying a big and old Tomiyama Art-panorama 6x24 camera, a workhorse set with a trustful Nikkor 120/8.
During this job, we were shooting the whole estate of Ceará, in Brazil northeast, including every kind of landscape, from sand dunes to waterfalls, windy beaches to almost desert places, and also urbans sceanes, industries, raves and so on. Most of the time we were nicely shooting with cameras set on tripods, but on lot of occasions we had to climb on the top of the car, on walls, towers, use boats or whatever came on hands for specific shots. So we were trully testing our skills and equipment.
The Da Yi camera proved to be a delight on everyday use, wich doesn't mean it's perfect, far from it. But it handles so good, that many times I actually did prefer to shoot on handheld way, trusting loosely on the viewfinder. I say loosely because it doesn't cover 80mm lens and also shows some distortion, but during action shots, it was rather welcome.
Most of the times, however, I did prefer to use the ground-glass, mainly because that's the only way one can frame with some precision after using a bit of shift. It should be noticed that this camera just has a rise option, but if one needs it's possible to use a tripod socket wich fits over the camera to work with it upside down. It's a clever solution and works fine, meaning just a couple of minutes to set the trick.
Long ago I had an old Linhof camera and just like what happens when using the Art 6x24, I miss lens movement a lot.
Setting the glass view-finder is easy and fast, but although it comes with a collapsible hood, I still found necessary to use a dark-cloth. Changing to film back is also fast and I think that's a most welcome option. Most of the time I don't need and neither want to spend 4 or more frames (it can also be used with 6x12 and 6x14 formats) on the same scene or without careful focusing and framing.
My Art-panorama has a ground-glass wich can be held on place with fingers, but once the film is on place, ciao! It cames with a infinity stop set for the 120mm lens and a focusing knob, wich makes things easier, but as I've been using also a 90mm for 6x17 format, I had to disable those things and just trust on the glass viewfinder.
There's some to say about the cones wich came with Da Yi camera. They both work, but care should be taken about the infinity stop set on the focusing ring. After careful checking I found they need some correction, wich happily meant only a simple matter of loosing 2 or 3 screws and setting a new stop.
I had some trouble with light bouncing inside the camera or the cone itself while using the wide-angle lens, something I still have to find out and fix with some baffling device.
Another serious issue came when I discovered that the minimum focusing distance with the 150mm cone is a huge 5 meters (bye-bye,so long, farewell macro-photos!). With the 80mm adapter it's a bit shorter at 2m, but still too far for my taste.
At this point, I should say that I favor bellows instead of cones. The Art camera uses conventional Linhof plates, with just a round cut on the base to allow room for the focusing axis. Changing lenses is easier and carrying more then 2 cones can be a burden, not exactly on weight but on space it takes on one's bag.
So, if I had to select the best camera I would keep two! But possibly neither of those three (or maybe, if I just can set better cones for the Da Yi camera).
Linhof cameras are fantastic, so precise and well built, but can be heavy and will never be cheap. New models with shift controls are appealing and wish I could afford one with a couple of cones. But...
The chinese beauty shows its charm mainly on your bank account, but can be a nice working companion on the field. Not so strong and built like a jeep, but if feels good on hands and make beautiful pictures if you take care. It's versatility is a must, depending on accessories of course, but I wish every camera had the same.
Now I'm curious about the new Shen-Hao, because I think it offers most of what I need on a camera and also it fits my way of shooting. Will that be the third one?
Well, I hope it can be useful to someone.
Cesar B.