Large format cameras are kind of in a league of their own.
Not a better league than, say medium format or digital photography, just different.
I have noticed that, after a grasp of how a 35mm SLR works, I was able to basically figure out how to operate
most other cameras out there... except for this one.
Sure the basic concepts of photography still apply, but this is a different machine, with a different interface, operating system and, most importantly, different capabilities.
Looking at ground glass is one of the most enchanting moments I have exper
ienced as a photographer.... like a live still photo. Its hard to go back to looking through a viewfinder after experiencing this.
All those dials and shafts and knobs in the photo up top are the reason I bought the camera. Each one controls the lens plain and the film plain independently. This allows for in-camera distorting of the image (like to correct converging lines, or to exaggerate a shape) known as 'tilt-shift'.
The effect that I love is a 3D control of the focal plain axis. I can control the angle at which the depth of field cuts through the frame. Add this to the fact that dof can get a lot shallower on such a large format with such long focal lengths and there is a whole new world of dof.
The trouble is with so many possible creative
effects in-camera, it takes a good 5 minutes for me to set up a picture. This slows down the work pace and leads to a deliberate, methodic way of photographing. Completely opposite to SLR shooting.
In coming posts I will show what I've come up with as I try to get a handle on this type of photography.
post by f/action member Duncan McNairnay
