Experience with Horseman LD bellows?

[richard watts]

I am considering buying the Horseman LD bellows for use with a D200 - mostly

for landscape and nature photography. It seems like a more versatile set-up

than a tilt-shift lens. Plus they sound like they are planning to make it

compatible with larger format digital backs and/or film backs. I wonder if

anyone has used this equipment and if so what they thought of it? Thanks,

Richard

[JosvanEekelen]

Luminous-Landscape has a review of the Horseman LD

[richard watts]

Thanks Jos, that was an informative review. I hadn't been to luminous-landscape before and it is obviously a place worth book marking.

[steve_yeatts]

I read this review today also. It occurred to me, why would it not work to take an old LF rail camera and replace the focusing screen/back with another lens board, to which is attached a lens mount from an old lens? One could use pretty much any LF lens, which should give super coverage of a 35 frame or APS-C sensor.

 

Any suggestions or comments? Thanks.

[richard watts]

Yes, that is possibly a cheaper option and there are conversions available for doing it. The Horseman LD is basically a fancy version of that. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has tried that also. Particularly about pitfalls, difficulties etc.

[dan_fromm2]

Steve, its been done. They're on sale at very much better camera stores everywhere. On the whole, if you want the benefits of view cameras its better to shoot one.

 

Do any of you recall the KI Monobar? This was a 35 mm monorail view camera made by Kennedy Industries, a subsidiary of Ilford. I've handled one. Its beautiful. Thing is, though, with a roughly normal lens for 35 mm the thing's bellows are so compressed that very little in the way of movements is possible. And with a longer lens, well, the angle of view is pretty narrow. Note also that with lenses made to cover 35 mm, little in the way of movements is possible. If you doubt this, note that with all of 'em image quality is markedly worse in the corners than in the center.

 

I used to fantasize that a 38/4.5 Biogon would make a good short normal lens for use on a Monobar. It has the coverage but very little back focus and quite a short flange-to-film distance at infinity. After thinking it over hard I decided that my fantasy was silly. Maybe a 45/4.5 Biogon, of which only 100 were made, would work better.

 

Richard, if you want a view camera, get one and be done with it. If you're shooting landscapes and want to print big, 35 mm is too small anyway. If you doubt this, consider that Clyde Butcher (Google if you don't know ...) shoots quite large format in order to print gigantic and larger. He doesn't use his large cameras for the joy of it, but because the results he gets with them can't be matched with smaller formats.

 

Good luck, have fun,

[richard watts]

I am not familiar with the Ilford system. My plan would be to ultimately have a bellows system compatible with both larger format film and 35mm/DSLR. My goal isn't to print large so much as to have the compositional freedom of a view camera coupled with the cheapness/ease of digital capture. I definitely wouldn't run it with 35mm lenses due to the "extension tube" issues at shorter focal lengths and the smaller projected image. I actually also worry that, because the sensor plane is embedded deep within the camera body, there will be shadowing problems at anything other than very slight tilt.

[david_h._hartman]

The Horseman LD doesnt look promising to me. <br>

<br>

I made a Graflock to Nikon adapter from a slab of aircraft

aluminum and a BR-2 Ring and all but never used it. It was setup

for a Linhof Technika IV. A Nikon PB-4 Bellows is far more useful

unless a really long draw is needed. The Technika gives 390mm not

counting the Nikon SLRs back focus. I also attached a short

Pentax 6x7 extension tube to a flat Kardan 45 lens board. This

was somewhat more useful with a bag bellows or with longer lenses

for close-up. Also I never owned a Pentax 6x7 bellows where as I

bought my first Nikon bellows back in about 1973.<br>

<br>

One problem with these SLR backs is focus. When using swings and

tilts focus is so much easier when you can place a loupe directly

on the ground glass of a 4x5 view or technical press camera.

Another is that swings and tilts of the back are all but useless

as the mirror box and back focus of the SLR quickly cause

clipping of the image. Rise and fall is possible but again

limited by the mirror box and back focus.<br>

<br>

The back focus on Nikon F, SLR(s) and DSLR(s) is 46.5mm. Give

this youll probably be limited to using lenses of 90~105mm

and longer with the Horseman LD.<br>

<br>

Im going to agree with Dan here, if you want a view camera

just buy one.<br>

<br>

Best,<br>

<br>

Dave Hartman.

[richard watts]

Yes, after reading that review and you guys comments I tend to think that way too. Thanks for your input.