All suggestions, sollicited or not, are welcome
If you don't mind an additional, completely unsolicited, suggestion... my experience with the Rollei was vastly improved when I started using a monopod, Rolleifix, and short cable release. Everything improved. Only downside was having to explain to British customs agents, several times, that the monopod was not some sort of sinister "aerial" or weapon.
Ditto on the monopod and short cable release--or that ridiculously expensive original equipment little metal thingy that you can screw in (but works its way out and is lost somewhere in the forest--not that I'm at all bitter). The weakness of the Rolleicord is the release, which moves the camera sideways.
All suggestions, sollicited or not, are welcomeThank you both for the advice ! For complicated, personal reasons, using a tripod or a monopod is kind of a pain for me, so I basically never use them. I've heard about the "metal thingy" for the shutter release, but I think I'm gonna wait and see if my pictures come out blurry or not first. For now, my "technique" to avoid movements as much as possible when firing the shutter is : strap around my neck, one hand on each side of the camera, and a slow, gentle movement of the shutter release. But if this is not enough, I'll definitely use a cable release.
All suggestions, sollicited or not, are welcome
Practice using the camera. While watching TV or such, play with ...
FWIW, I usually handhold, even for slow exposures. But I usually use a shutter cable to avoid jostling the camera.
Practice using the camera. While watching TV or such, play with the viewfinder. Get used to the reversal. At some point you stop really noticing it, but it takes use and practice. Get used to the ways that the reversal can make it harder to keep things level and such. Get comfortable and relaxed. And esepcially for a TLR, use the fact that it is a less aggressive camera for the subject. You aren't aiming a gun barrel at them. You aren't even looking at them! You are staring at the ground. Well, at the camera. There's a shared thing going on as both you and the subject look at the camera, rather than you looking at them. The more you practice with the screen, the reversal, etc. the better.
As was discussed earlier, it can be easy to lose focus when you reframe after using a focus aid. Even more so with a TLR since it is held a bit off the body, is floating in space more. Again, practice and learn to pay attention to this, the way you can use the whole body to reframe rather than just angle a camera held at the eye. Again, the more practice, the more comfortable you will be with the reversed screen and the less chance of drifting out of focus.
Another piece of unsolicited advice: try holding the camera closer to your eye when focusing and framing. This makes the "apparent screen brightness" better than holding at the end of a strap at waist level. Mostly, it seems, because the viewfinder is better shaded. A higher viewind position also helps avoid always getting that "belly button view". In my opinion, the waist-level viewfinder is misnamed since using it at other positions seems much more effective. Unfortunately this approach somewhat negates part of your current method for camera stablization. That's where I found the monopod to be better approach overall. As you can see from this discussion thusfar... opinions will vary. We all have the way that works best for us and seems like you are still discovering yours.
EDIT: Have you ever seen this "rare" accessory? It certainly isn't a commonly seen item. Posting the auction only as an example, not as an endorsement or suggestion for anyone to purchase.
I do bring the camera closer to my eye for focusing, but I admit I usually lower it after that. Great tip about the "belly button view", thanks ! I'll keep that in mind going forward. Maybe I'll shorten the strap... I used the "sports" finder once, don't know how it will look like
I'm still discovering everything about this camera, and waist level finders, and medium format, and... well, everything basically
No, I had not seen that accessory before ! Quite... peculiar ! Interesting. There seems to be a lot of accessories for those TLRs. The Rolleinars, I admit, caught my eyes a little bit. But that's for later, maybe.
One cool and mostly-unsung Rollei accessory is the panorama head. It rotates a Rollei on the axis of the camera’s aperture, allowing near-seamless panoramas. They are cheap to buy and you can have a lot of fun with them. I’m attaching a gravure of two frames I shot with a Rolleicord II on the panorama head.
There are 2 versions of the Rollei panorama head. The original was configured specifically for the TLR and rotates on the lens axis.
Y, If i am not using a tripod, i always rely on downward pull on the strap to steady the camera. Yes... Rolleinars are cool & the quality is top notch.
One cool and mostly-unsung Rollei accessory is the panorama head. It rotates a Rollei on the axis of the camera’s aperture, allowing near-seamless panoramas. They are cheap to buy and you can have a lot of fun with them. I’m attaching a gravure of two frames I shot with a Rolleicord II on the panorama head.
For the best results when photographing panoramas, the camera should rotate on one of the two main nodal points of the lens. I'll leave it to others to find the link on how best to locate a lens' nodal point - I've misplaced it (the link(s), that is).
I do the same, and it helps me a great deal. Maybe, with more practice, I will be able to rely less on that.
There is a right way to hold a Rollei. It wants to rest on the palm of your hand. The weight and form give it inherent stability — let it sit on your palm, and use your index finger of that hand to trip the shutter. Use the other hand to focus and steady the camera. If you can relax and use a gentle touch, you can handhold long exposures fairly easily.
One cool and mostly-unsung Rollei accessory is the panorama head. It rotates a Rollei on the axis of the camera’s aperture, allowing near-seamless panoramas. They are cheap to buy and you can have a lot of fun with them. I’m attaching a gravure of two frames I shot with a Rolleicord II on the panorama head.
FWIW, I usually handhold, even for slow exposures. But I usually use a shutter cable to avoid jostling the camera. And I do this with Rolleiflexes as well as Rolleicords. I don’t find the Rolleicord any more or less susceptible to the problem.
the guy in your picture
He’s me! It’s a mirror selfie. The camera is a Rolleicord II with a Triotar lens from the late 1940s.
You think he'd look happier, using a Rolllei ......
He’s me! It’s a mirror selfie.
One of the most enduring Internet falsehoods. Not nodal point. Entrance pupil. The entrance pupil is where the diaphragm aperture appears to be (virtual image) when looking into the lens from the outside (B/T shutter setting).For the best results when photographing panoramas, the camera should rotate on one of the two main nodal points of the lens. I'll leave it to others to find the link on how best to locate a lens' nodal point - I've misplaced it (the link(s), that is).
Segmented panoramas, also called stitched panoramas, are made by joining multiple photographs with slightly overlapping fields of view to create a panoramic image. Stitching software is used to combine multiple images. Ideally, in order to correctly stitch images together without parallax error, the camera must be rotated about the center of its lens entrance pupil.
Short rotation, rotating lens and swing lens cameras have a lens that rotates around the camera lens's rear nodal point and use a curved film plane.[25] As the photograph is taken, the lens pivots around its rear nodal point while a slit exposes a vertical strip of film that is aligned with the axis of the lens.
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