Canham DLC & Scheimpflug ?

<p>Hi,<br>

I posted here a while back for advice on choosing between purchasing a Canham DLC and a Toyo-view VX 125. I got some great advice, and I deduced that the best choice for my needs was the Canham.<br>

Before buying I played around with a friends Canham DLC. I liked a lot about the camera, but I was concerned about the difficulty of accurately tilting the front standard to achieve Scheimpflug DoF controls. Previously I used a Sinar F for a decade, and became very accustomed to using Scheimpflug controls, even to maximise Dof without stopping down excessively for landscape. I'm aware that Rodenstock make a tool for calculating tilts etc. which I didn't have when using the Canham, but with the minimal markings on the DLC and the lack of geared movements, is it really feasible to expect to be able to make those sorts of movement controls with the DLC?</p>

<p>Hmmm. At risk of sounding prescriptive, do you actually need a calculator for this kind of thing or is it insufficient to see how it looks (with a loupe) on the ground-glass?<br>

Particularly if you're shooting landscape, ISTM what matters is that you know how the focal wedge intersects the scene in question - and the theory involving scheimpflug and hinge-rule is deduced, of secondary importance "this is what you're doing and why it looks reasonable".<br>

But maybe that's just me being crude, coming from Shen-Hao where the tilt & swing controls are as fine as your fingers allow and as accurate as your eyes on the glass. :)</p>

<p>Tim,<br>

I've never even seen the Rodenstock calculator, so I don't know if it's over-kill or the answer to all my problems. But coming from Sinar, those little tilt / swing degree markings etc. were genuinely useful if not super precise. As to judging Scheimpflug on the ground-glass - I discussed the matter with my friend (the Canham owner) and he never even tries. His philosophy is that using the ground-glass as your guide is fine with 8 x 10, but much harder with 4 x 5. Hmmm I want those controls on a 4 x 5.</p>

<p>The other problem with the DLC using your procedure is that I think I need two hands to manually adjust tilt / swing and lock position, which leaves me missing a hand to hold the loupe. Should I be looking beyond the DLC?</p>

 

<p>Only a fraction of view cameras on the market have built in calculators for Scheimpflug. Generally field cameras don't have this feature. So this isn't specific to the Canham brand. Most LF photographers figure out tilt and swing from viewing the ground glass. Some are more systematic about it than others. If you want to be systematic, you can converge quickly -- a good procedure if provided by Howard Bond: http://www.largeformatphotography.info/articles/bond-checklist.html. You don't need three hands. You set up a tilt or swing, lock it into place. Then adjust focus with one hand while viewing with a loupe. As described in Bond's procedure, the focus adjustement can tell you how to adjust the tlit or swing.</p>

<p>If the traditional way seems too complicated, another approach is provided on some Ebony-brand cameras, which have an off-axis tilt axis. If one of items that you want to be in focus is on this axis, then the procedure becomes simpler.</p>

<p>Extreme accuracy isn't needed because the subjects of interest will almost never be in a single plane. So in the end you will have to obtain depth of field by stopping down. It usually isn't worth the effort to fully optimize the tilt or swing to "save" that last fraction of a stop.</p>

<p>Michael is dead on and Tim makes an excellent point. I used and still have my prized Sinar C system, but almost always use my Linhof Technikardan 45 and Canham metal 5x7 (always forget the initials) now because I'm older and tired of carrying the C and larger tripod. I determine Scheimflug in simple situations by basically setting up a shot, prefocusing, setting the shift, rise and fall, putting my toe on the ground below the film plane, tilting until the front standard basically points to my toe, and then refocusing with the lupe while watching near and far points in the plane in front. I've never missed the famed accuracy of the Sinar because it's too technical for anything I've ever done. It gets more involved with funky planes, but the description in the website that Michael included would get you through pretty much anything.</p>

<p>Michael & Rob, thanks for the reality check! I guess my anxieties about control are related to transitioning from the Sinar camera I used for 10 years to something new, Canham or otherwise. I do actually use Scheimpflug in the field quite a lot (an example - photographing a lake in foreground / mountain tops in distance - wanting fast enough shutter speed to 'freeze' the lake and have everything in focus from front to back - not possible by just stopping down).<br>

I've read the link - and when I have a new camera to try out the method with, I'm sure it will be crystal clear! I guess what you are implying is that beyond the specifics of the Sinar system, other cameras (Ebony noted) are more or less equal in matters of controlling Scheimpflug?</p>

<p>With any base tilt camera, like the Canham, "focus on the far, tilt toward the near, re-tilt and re-focus until all is clear" (with your loupe). That ridiculous rhyme got me through the early days of learning to focus a view camera for in the field landscape work.<br>

Good luck.<br>

Eric</p>