large format Camera movements

Dear Sir/Madam

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I am having trouble writing an essay on the large format camera as part of my Btec Nd photography course. I was hoping that you could help me?

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I need to know more about shift, swing and tilt movements and the implications of schiemphflug and camera yaw.

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If you could help me out this would be of a great help.

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Thankyou

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Gina Spencer.

Gina, It seems what you're asking for is a brief tutorial on view

camera movements. There are many texts on the subject, but perhaps

you're in need of a overview as opposed to an in depth course and so

I'll attempt to outline the important elements.

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1. Shifts/Rise and Fall: Normally, the optical axis of the lens

intersects a point exactly in the center of the film. By shifting the

position of either the lens or film from left to right or vice versa,

you will cause the image placement to change accordingly. The rise and

fall movement is just shift turned sideways. The purpose of this

adjustment is to allow you to recompose the image without tilting or

panning the camera, thus avoiding upsetting the relationship of subject

plane to film plane. Where you would use this might be when

photographing architecture. To keep the sides of a building parallel,

it would be necessary to keep the film plane parallel with the surface

of the structure. If the building was tall and you wished to include

its top in the image, by using the rise function, you could reposition

the image on the groundglass without resorting to tilting up which

would result in the sides of the building converging.

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2. Tilts/Swings: It is with these movements that the Scheimpflug rule

comes into play. Simply, if the subject plane, the lens plane (an

imaginary surface that is perpendicular to the optical axis) and the

film plane all intersect at one line, everything on the subject plane

will be sharp regardless of how near or far it is from the camera. The

classic illustration of how this works would be the image of railroad

tracks where the camera is positioned between the rails and aimed down

the tracks at the horizon. The tracks form the subject plane. The

film plane (assuming a level camera) is perpendicular to the tracks and

intersects it laterally across the rails. By tilting the lens panel

forward to a point where the continuation of that surface (lens plane)

just meets the the intersection of the subject and film plane, you

would be free to focus anywhere along the tracks and have them in

perfect focus from right under your feet to the point along the horizon

where the tracks seem to dissappear! Swings are just tilts turned

sideways. You would employ them wehn you need to keep a city block of

store fronts in perfect focus from near to far.

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You can manipulate certain cameras at both the front standard where the

lens is mounted or the rear standard where the film goes. There are

subtle differences in the way tilts and swings behave when you do them

in the front as opposed to the rear of the camera. There are also some

considerations related to the coverage of the lens (the size of the

cone of light which the lens projects on the film) that sometimes makes

it preferable to do tilts or swings at the rear as opposed to the

front. It is also possible to combine a tilt and a swing in the same

scene (compound Scheimpflug).

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Another important point to make is that every movement will seem to

solve one problem while at the same time creating another. What degree

of movement and what type you use is determined by which problem is in

greater need of being reduced and what compromise you are willing to

live with. You can't have it all! Sometimes, though you can make it

seem as though you've achieved just that!

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I hope this helps and I'm certain others will have much to contribute.

Try this page from the B&H web site:

http://www/bhphotovideo.com/photo/large/intro/introduction.html.

Take a look at Stroebel's "View Camera Technique". This book goes

into great depth on the topics you are asking about.