Week 3 : 4.3.2011 - Large Format Cameras & Camera Movements

Week 3 : 4.3.2011 - Large Format Cameras & Camera Movements

Image from: http://www.dannyburk.com/ebony_sv45u2.htm

Advantages:

- Better resolution for given print size

- Sheet film = control of processing

- Full control of composition, image shape, d.o.f, film back position, perspective

Disadvantages

- Heavier & nearly always requires a tripod

- Cumbersome and requires more preparation

Format Sizes

- 4x5

- 5x7

- 8x10

- 11x14

Types

- Monorail

- Flat-bed

- Press

- Field

Camera Movements

Image From Workshop 3 - Intro to Large Format Cameras Powerpoint

- Manipulation of ;

- focus

- Perspective

- D.O.F

- Image Shape

by the relative position and orientation of the lens board and film back.

Rise and Fall:

• Rise is an upward movement and fall is a downward movement control the vertical placement of the image on the ground glass.
• The rise and fall of the rear standard does not effect the shape of the subject, giving the option of moving the object within the frame without changing the position of objects relative to each other.
• The rise or fall of the front standard changes the point of view and to some extent the shape of the subject and visual relation of objects.

Shift:

• A sideways movement, is the same as the rise and fall of standards except the movement takes place from side to side. Spatial relationships change with a shift of the front standard and not the back standard.

Tilt:

• A forward or backward angled movement of either or both the standards, can change both the shape and the focus of the image on film.

Swing:

• an angled left or right movement of either the rear or front standards, can change the shape and/or focus of the image.

The ‘Scheimpflug’ Principle

Control of image sharpness depends on the directional relationship of three planes: the subject plane S, the film plane F and the lens plane L. As long as all three planes are parallel to each other, the image is uniformly sharp all over. See Figure 8 below. But when you incline one of the three planes to one of the others, you get uniform sharpness only when the extensions of all three planes intersect in a common point. This is known as the 'Scheimpflug Principle', the application of which has become known only in this department as "flugging" or "to flug it".