perspective on 8*10?

[stehei]

Hello,

I have a question on perspective in portrait photography,
I've always been learned that it is not the lens, but the
distance to the subject that 'makes' perspective,

But now that I work on 8*10, is it possible that its the
format that changes perspective too?
and how does that change the '85mm on 35mm portrait lens' 'rule'?

Someone here to enlighten me?

[Jim Noel]

The equivalent of an 85 mm for 35 mm would be approximately 500 mm for 8x10.

[Peter K]

The distance to the subject makes perspective, but the subjective impression depends also from the size of the final image.

So the perspective of an 8x10 contact print taken with a 480mm lens looks like the same as an 8x10 print taken with an 85mm lens on 35mm film.

[David A. Goldfarb]

There is a good article by Ron Wisner about this subject, explaining why it is that as one goes up in format, the "portrait" focal length becomes shorter relative to the format, aside from practical considerations of bellows length and such. I think it originally appeared in _View Camera_ magazine and used to be on his website, but wasn't there last I checked.

For 8x10", a normal portrait lens is on the order of 14" or 360mm or maybe a bit longer. 14" was good enough for Karsh.

[walter23]

Distance to subject does determine perspective. Two lenses on two different formats with a similar field of view, at the same distance, will render roughly the same perspective and overall composition. Depth of field will be different, lesser in the case of the larger format.

As pointed out, people often use shorter lenses on the larger formats for practical reasons. The effect will be a "wider angle" or closer perspective.

[Once]

In my opinion you would be better off if you bought a good book about the LF photography rather than asking individual advice. View Camera Technique by Leslie Stroebel is very good and you would find all you need to know and then some in there. Enjoy the LF!

[Sheldon N]

Does anyone know if it is the LENS distance to subject or the FILM distance to subject that determines perspective?

I would guess that the lens (nodal point) would be the deciding factor, but was always curious. With the bigger formats, there's a fair bit of difference between the lens distance and the film distance.

[stehei]

thanks for the replies,
I checked some books, and looked on the net and on this
forum, but I indeed got mixed messages,
Thanks for the tip on the book

regards

stefan

[jb7]

There has been a thread (or more) about this before,
I can't remember if it was one I dug up myself, or if it was a recent one-

It makes sense that it is the entrance pupil that determines perspective,
at least for the in-focus areas-
but I know I'm just repeating someone much more knowledgeable...

Can't wait for the answers to this one now...

j

[Peter K]

Does anyone know if it is the LENS distance to subject or the FILM distance to subject that determines perspective?

I would guess that the lens (nodal point) would be the deciding factor, but was always curious. With the bigger formats, there's a fair bit of difference between the lens distance and the film distance.

It's the FILM distance. This is one reason to focus with the lens standard. With some cameras on optical bench there is also a fine focusing aid at the film standard but this will always change the imaging scale and so also the perspective.

Peter K