90mm f8 vs 5.6

[Ben]

Ben,

See my last post in your other thread too.

My take on how to deal with low-light situations is to get a good dark cloth and give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness. Most people have really good vision in low light if they just let their eyes adjust.

I work without a darkcloth with many lenses in regular daylight, but in low light situations, especially when using my f/8-f/9 lenses (which I have a lot of since I like light (weight) more than I like bright), I drag out the darkcloth. Mine has Velcro all around so I can fasten it around the camera and under me, giving me an almost totally dark environment. If you have a darkcloth that will do that for you, and give yourself 5-10 minutes to adjust, you should be able to easily see an image from an f/8 lens in anything but the dimmest light (or if you have cataracts that are well-advanced).

If you're asking this because you're deciding if an f/8 lens will suit your needs, get out your darkcloth, find a low-light situations, set up your camera with widest lenses, stop them down to f/8 and crawl under the darkcloth for a while and see for yourself. That should give you a good idea.

FWIW, I made exposures in extreme low-light situations (think 20+-minute exposures) for which I only looked at my ground glass for a second or two with the loupe to make sure one or two things were in focus. With a view camera, you can do most of the composing and choosing of lens focal length away from the camera.

Best,

Doremus

Thanks Doremus. This is good advice.

[Ben]

Further to Doremus's comments in this and the other thread about composing independently of the camera's ground glass...

I don't know Doremus's technique, but I'm sold on the app Artist's Viewfinder. If you have an iPhone 11 or later, the phone's wide angle lens will get the job done for short focal lengths; otherwise you'll need a supplementary lens for the phone. I don't know if there is an Android equivalent. See this thread: What Scouting/Planning Apps Are You Using in 2021?

Yes, I'm familiar with Artemis, but saying that we must compose independently of the camera's ground glass is ridiculous.
We need to see what we're doing, otherwise what's the point of using a view camera.

[xkaes]

We all have to roughly compose each picture at first. And that can take some time. How else would we know where to put the tripod? But 99% of the time, I end up moving the tripod, to at least some degree -- up, down, left, right, forward, back -- AFTER I look at the ground glass. And LOTS of times, I end up changing the lens, too -- which usually means moving the tripod again. Rinse and repeat.

Now that I think about it, it's amazing that I've actually been able to take ANY pictures!

[Ben]

We all have to roughly compose each picture at first. And that can take some time. How else would we know where to put the tripod? But 99% of the time, I end up moving the tripod, to at least some degree -- up, down, left, right, forward, back -- AFTER I look at the ground glass. And LOTS of times, I end up changing the lens, too -- which usually means moving the tripod again. Rinse and repeat.

Now that I think about it, it's amazing that I've actually been able to take ANY pictures!

Can we please stop talking about artemis and go back to getting a usable image on the GG

[r.e.]

Yes, I'm familiar with Artemis, but saying that we must compose independently of the camera's ground glass is ridiculous.
We need to see what we're doing, otherwise what's the point of using a view camera.

Neither I nor Doremus said that you "must" compose independently of the ground glass. I don't know how Doremus does it, but some people, myself among them, find a director's viewfinder invaluable and a significant timesaver. I started using one for video, where it is pretty much essential if you're working with other people. It's called a director's viewfinder for a reason. I'm now using it with 4x5 and 8x10. I can see the framing for different focal lengths immediately, and record views as photographs if I'm scouting a location or want to try out various ways to frame the subject. I want to use the ground glass for fine tuning. I find this an efficient way to work. You may not.

[Ben]

Neither I nor Doremus said that you "must" compose independently of the ground glass. Some people, myself among them, find a director's viewfinder invaluable and a significant timesaver. I started using one for video, where it is pretty much essential if you're working with other people. I'm now using it with 4x5 and 8x10. I can see the framing for different focal lengths immediately, and record views as photographs if I'm scouting a location or want to try out various ways to frame the subject. I find this extremely useful. You may not.

I hate to police the thread, but...

The question is about the GG using a f8 vs 5.6 lens in dim lighting conditions.

[r.e.]

I hate to police the thread, but...

The question is about the GG using a f8 vs 5.6 lens in dim lighting conditions.

What? I was following up on a point that Doremus made both in this thread and your related thread, and was responding to your own post. If you don't want people to respond to what you say, maybe let people know in advance

[BrianShaw]

I hate to police the thread, but...

The question is about the GG using a f8 vs 5.6 lens in dim lighting conditions.

It’s your thread but just like discussion of dark cloths, the topic of ease-of-focus and ease-of-composing was in the initial discussion. Composing is done, both, with eyes and on the GG. The brightness between 2 different stops, frankly, isn’t much to discuss.

[Ben]

What? I was following up on a point that Doremus made both in this thread and your related thread, and was responding to your own post. If you don't want people to respond to what you say, maybe let people know in advance

I was responding to a post you made which was off-topic. Trying to stick to the OP topic.

Doremus's post was on point.

[Ben]

It’s your thread but just like discussion of dark cloths, the topic of ease-of-focus and ease-of-composing was in the initial discussion. Composing is done, both, with eyes and on the GG. The brightness between 2 different stops, frankly, isn’t much to discuss.

The dark cloth is relevant because a good dark cloth should help your eyes adjust to the GG. The question is, with a good dark cloth and allowing eyes to adjust, is there a discernible difference between a f8 and f5.6 lens under dim lighting conditions?