Maximum movements in 4x5 field cameras

[Curt]

4x4 lens board? I almost hate to mention the Calumet monorail 4x5, inexpensive and has tons of movements. Revolving back and a long bellows. What you get for the price is not bad.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Orbit-Calumet-4...247QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250086776196

 

[David H. Bebbington]

The reason I started this thread is that I was making an image basically of an old barn's window and an arrangement of reflections in it. The casing nearly filled the frame with the 90mm lens. I was only a couple feet away from and pointed almost directly at the barn wall, but offset enough to get the camera out of the window's reflection. There was not enough swing in my field camera to straighten out the convergence of the window's casing and I wasn't that far out of perpendicular to it so I was very frustrated. It's those kinds of shots that I would like movement enough to get because the window casing is whacked when it looks like a trapezoid.

Cheapest solution is to ask yourself how often this situation occurs and whether it is feasible on those (rare?) occasions to turn the camera that you have now on its side and use the "rising" front as cross front. Providing side or up/down shift on the back of a field camera inevitably makes it larger heavior and more complex. With the camera on its side, front and rear tilt can be used to obtain a considerable effective side shift


Regards,

David