Is my image supposed to be upside down and backwards?

I do not understand, when i look into the ground glass everything is

upside down and backwards, I never had this problem with 35mm SLR's.

 

i tried rotating the ground glass, but it remains upside down. I then

rotated the lens, no effect... is there something i am missing?

 

j/k ofcourse :)

 

I just wanted to thank everyone in suggesting books and lenses, I am

expecting my camera to arrive tomorow and I am very excited! I got my

lens today :) You all have been great.

<i>i tried rotating the ground glass, but it remains upside down. I then rotated the lens, no effect... is there something i am missing?</i><p>anno...prepare to get hammered on again.

Buy an Ebony. They cost so much because the image on the ground glass is never upside down or backwards. Latest Japanese technology.

One of those books is on yoga, right? 'Cause you're supposed to stand on your head when you look in the ground glass. Then everything looks OK (except you).

Yes.

 

This is due to the light path through the lens. It travels in straight lines so lightpath from top of object goes through lens to bottom of image. Light from bottom of object (assuming this is below the lens) goes through lens to top of image. Hence, upside down. The same applies left-to-right.

 

SLRs have a pentaprism which flips the image the right way up. The brain also does this as the image formed by the eye on the retina is upside down.

 

Turning the lens or the ground glass screen will do nothing to the image as is is not altering the light path.

If you bring your ground glass to Australia, it will at least be right side up. Can't help you with the backwards part. I think it has something to do with politics...

 

Cheers,

Richard

I had the same problem - cured it by placing the camera on a low tripod and after turning my back to the camera, bent forward and looked at the screen from between my legs!

This is perfectly normal, no need to worry. Just make sure that when you get a lens for your enlarger you get a "reversible" lens. As long as the lens in the enlarger (and I guess in the scanner too, I've never looked there) is a reversible lens the print will come out right side up even though the negative is upside down.

I know you are joking, but there is a serious point here that sometimes causes confusion. The image on the ground glass, when viewed from the rear, is rotated by 180 degrees. You can accomplish the same thing by flipping over a horizontal axis, which could be described as turning it upside down, AND also flipping it over a vertical axis, which could be described as reversing left and right. Actually, either of these operations reverses left and right producing an image which, if rotated to the upright position, would look like a mirror reflection. If you do both, the two reversals negate each other, and the image in fact has proper orientation with respect to right and left, as a mathematician or physicist would understand it.

 

This is to be disinguished from the image you see on the ground glass of a TLR. That does have its orientation reversed as is clear if you look at any text. The letters will be reversed. With a view camera, if you look at a street sign and take account of the rotation, you will see that the letters have their normal forms and are not reversed. SLRs use a collection of mirrors which in toto provide an upright image with the right orientation. The number of mirrors has to be even since an odd number of mirrors will reverse orientation.

 

Another way to reverse orientation is to look at the image from the other side of the gg, as you might be able to do if there were no bellows in place. It also is what happens in an enlarger if the emulsion faces the lens instead of the easel.

 

There is an old riddle about orientation. "If a mirror reverses right and left, why doesn't it reverse up and down?" There are lots of different answers to this question, depending on the particular aspect that is considered important. But the real point is that orientation is an innate characteristic in any dimension. Any reflection transformation reverses it but normal motions involving rotation and translation do not. If you looked in a mirror while lying on your side, then your left and right would also be reversed in the mirror world you perceive in the mirror.

I have the same problem. My prints are all upside down too and they are white on the reverse side.

Be nice, people. Someone could be reading this who has just bought a LF camera and has never looked at one before :)

<i>There is an old riddle about orientation. "If a mirror reverses right and left, why doesn't it reverse up and down?" There are lots of different answers to this question, depending on the particular aspect that is considered important. But the real point is that orientation is an innate characteristic in any dimension. Any reflection transformation reverses it .... </i><p>

The easiest answer is: In a mirror, up is still up, down is still down, left is still left and right is still right. In other words, the items on the left in the real world are also on the left in the mirror, just as up in the real world is up in the mirror.<p>

 

Reversing of the image is a "construct" of our intellect. We don't notice it until we see a familiar reference item - for instance, words. Write a word on a piece of paper and hold it up to a mirror, looking at both paper and image. The letters on the left as you hold the paper are still on the left in the image. The order of the letters in the words has not changed, which should be enough to convince us that no right-left reversal has occured. <p>

 

On another piece of paper draw an arrow and hold it so that it points to the right. Holding it up to the mirror, it still points to the right, again showing there is no left-to-right reversal of the image.<p>

 

To answer the question <i>"If a mirror reverses right and left, why doesn't it reverse up and down?"</i>, I say "A mirror doesn't reverse right and left - it's just your brain playing tricks on you." Think about it in a different manner and the conundrum disappears.<p>

 

Graeme

Next question!

I used to have a problem with this, too. Since then I've learned how to make the pictures be right side up when I print them so it's not a problem except if there's a sign or something in the picture because then the letters always come out backwards even when it's right side up.

There is something very wrong with the camera, send it to me immediately for testing, please include some film.....

If you look att the image on the ground glass long enough you brain will automatically correct if for you so that you will perceive it as facing the right way.

 

This could take a little while but large format photography is for the patient...

Yes, Anno, as stated earlier there isn't anything wrong with the lens, camera or ground glass. It is the projection of light through the glass. You will get used to it in LF. When you get ready to enlarge your negative put it in the carrier upside down and the image will be right side up. Now you really know what the image looks like when it hits your retina. God makes our brains translate the image to be "correct". He knew if He didn't then "puny" little man would never be able to walk. Mankind would keep falling down....or would

keep falling up. It all depends on how you look at it. Have fun

with your new camera.

Hate to say it, but there are at least two people here (James M. and Pat Kearns) over whose heads this joke sailed.

 

Even boffo posts like this one can show us something ...

Actually, the image is correct. It is YOU who are upside down and backwards (just like your mother-in-law always said).

<i>"j/k ofcourse :)"</i><p>

 

I didn't miss this, I was being obtuse, but nevermind.<p>

 

!!yhpargotohp ruoy yojne

I always drink a bottle of good scotch before I go out shooting. I've never observed the problem you describe. My prints however are all upside down and backwards.

Oh dear - I think your camera is infected with the WM45.KOKEYED.F virus. Clearly, you have placed your camera too close to a PC running Micro$oft software.

 

Make sure your bellows are fully extended, remove the lens panel and bang the whole unit as hard as you can against the nearest Elm tree three times (note do not try this with an Oak, as that will permanently damage your camera so that it will only take 35mm film in future). In future, make sure your camera is fully updated against viruses and you have installed all the latest service packs and bug fixes.

 

Hope that helps....

 

Cheers,

As a quick fix, you might want to take your camera in to your local repair shop and have a second tripod mount placed <i>on top</i> of the camera. That way you'll be able to right that image after all... ;-)

Graeme,

 

There's a little joke related to this issue:

 

"Why is it that when you look into a mirror things are reversed left-right, but not upside-down?"

 

"Gravity!"

 

By the way, there's a cheap 35mm lab nearby that sometimes will print an entire roll upside down and backwards. Fortunately, when I've pointed this out to them their turnaround has been almost instantaneous. Get it? "Turnaround"? And for all you out there who think you're even more of a smart-ass than I--yes, the lab really is only 35mm high!

Ba-da-BOOM!

 

[bass drum & hi-hat]