Canon slr on graflock back

[Ian Swarbrick]

My searches on this site have not been fruitful so I`m asking here. I own a Toho 4x5 camera with graflock back. The spring-loaded ground glass screen can be easily and permanently removed. Rather than buying a tilt-shift 35mm lens for my Canon slrs, I`m toying with the possibility of mating the two. I realise a recessed lens board would probably be needed for my Nikon 65mm, but I also have the Nikon 90mm.

Has anyone tried anything like this?:

http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/canon-view-camera.html

Presumably there are drawbacks to the idea, otherwise I would have read more about it on the net. What are those drawbacks, would you know?

[lenser]

Ian,

While I haven't done it yet, I am toying with the same idea on my Cambo SCX. In the case of the Cambo, I can simply use a regular lens board with an extension tube attached that clears the handle on my D700. If your TOHO has a similar removable back, that might be a simpler solution. If not, replacing the glass carrying part of the back with a metal plate and similar extension tube should do the trick.

[vinny]

bad idea. you need a sturdy metal studio camera. lots of drawbacks and they've been covered.
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?29321-4x5-view-camera-with-35mm-DSLR
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/archive/index.php/t-26150.html

http://photo.net/large-format-photography-forum/00Pjxa

[Ian Swarbrick]

thanks for the links Vinny.

All rather off-putting. And I`d forgotten the dust aspect. Mind you this would be mainly for forward tilt with a camera very close to the ground in "motion-control" time lapse landscape photography here in the Alps. So the walls of the mirror box might not imepde as they would with shift and rise, I imagine.
All this wouldn`t have cropped up but it is daft to have all this quality LF gear sitting in my cupboard and never use it. But the thought of the effort of selling it all on ebay (and at vastly lower prices than I paid for it) is not a pleasant one. I expect this has daunted others too.

[Brian C. Miller]

Petapixel.com: Speed Graphic 4×5 Converted Into a Fuji X Mirrorless Camera (http://www.petapixel.com/2013/01/02/speed-graphic-4x5-converted-into-a-fuji-x-mirrorless-camera/)

Yes, it can be done, has been done before, and you can do it yourself, or buy an adapter for it. However, I don't know if you would achieve the same results you'd get when using 4x5 film or else a tilt/shift lens designed for your camera.