Full of Frets posted: " Camera Display - V&A London Large Format Adventures 1 On my recent sojourn to London, I bit the bullet and bought some large format kit. It is due to be shipped to me next week. I have ordered a Sinar F 5x4 plate camera with a 180mm lens. That "
On my recent sojourn to London, I bit the bullet and bought some large format kit. It is due to be shipped to me next week. I have ordered a Sinar F 5x4 plate camera with a 180mm lens. That means it takes sheet film that measures 5x4 inches.
Compared with standard 35mm film format, the 'crop' factor for 5x4 is '3 times' i.e. a 150mm focal length on a 5x4 is comparable to a 50mm for a 35mm format camera.
So, how big are we talking?
Well, you have a 'rail' on which everything is attached – this is about a one-inch diameter pole. You have the front and rear standards, between which is the bellows. The rear standard has a ground glass screen used for focusing. The lens is attached to a lens board, which is attached to the front standard.
What makes this kind of camera so versatile is the ability to play around with the film and focal planes. You can compensate for converging verticals by 'tilting and shifting' as well as being able to play around with the plane of focus. These are achieved by raising/lowering the front or rear standards and by swinging, shifting, or tilting the standards.
Film is held in a film holder which has a dark slide. The film holder is dropped into the rear standard in front of the focusing screen once focus has been achieved. You then remove the dark slide and take a picture.
Of course, to provide the ultimate fin-de-siècle look, you have a focusing cloth which is draped over the back of the camera and over your head to aid focusing. Wearing a cloak with a scarlet lining is optional…
WordPress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment