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TLR Paralax correction

pschauss

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My Rolleicord Va has a mask in the viewfinder which moves down as I focus closer to compensate for the fact that the viewing lens is above the taking lens. My Yashicamat does not have a mask like this. Do any other TLRs have this feature?
 

MattKing

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The Mamiya C330 has a parallax indicator in the viewfinder which indicates how the top of the image area moves down on the screen.

Matt
 

Roger Hicks

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pschauss said:
My Rolleicord Va has a mask in the viewfinder which moves down as I focus closer to compensate for the fact that the viewing lens is above the taking lens. My Yashicamat does not have a mask like this. Do any other TLRs have this feature?
Click to expand...

I am reasonably confident that at least one design (though I forget which) tilted the whole reflex box for parallax compensation.

Cheers,

R.
 

Woolliscroft

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MattKing said:
The Mamiya C330 has a parallax indicator in the viewfinder which indicates how the top of the image area moves down on the screen.

Matt
Click to expand...

There is also a very useful tripod adaptor for it that simply moves the taking lens into the exact position that the viewfinder lens occupied during composition and focusing. This allows very close focusing without parallax issues.

David.
 

Roger Hicks

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Woolliscroft said:
There is also a very useful tripod adaptor for it that simply moves the taking lens into the exact position that the viewfinder lens occupied during composition and focusing. This allows very close focusing without parallax issues.

David.
Click to expand...

I think it was called a Paramender. You can of course achieve exactly the same effect, a good deal cheaper, by raising your centre column by the same amount. As far as I recall, 4 fingers at the first knuckle worked fine for me.

Cheers,

R.
 

Mike Té

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Roger Hicks said:
I think it was called a Paramender. You can of course achieve exactly the same effect, a good deal cheaper, by raising your centre column by the same amount. As far as I recall, 4 fingers at the first knuckle worked fine for me.
Click to expand...

The paramender beats the "4-finger method", Roger, when the camera is tilted to any degree away from the axis of the centre column. It places the taking lens in the correct position no matter the spatial orientation of the camera.

Cheers.
 

Roger Hicks

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tmike said:
The paramender beats the "4-finger method", Roger, when the camera is tilted to any degree away from the axis of the centre column. It places the taking lens in the correct position no matter the spatial orientation of the camera.

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Absolutely true, and I stand corrected except when using a Benbo with the camera axis in line with the centre column. I was thinking of the only times I have used this technique, which is with extreme wide-angles where careful levelling is the norm.

An excellent example of how one should carefully read anyone's posts, probing for inconsistencies and unstated assumptions. Me culpa, though not necessarily maxima.

Cheers,

R.
 
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Akalai

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Roger Hicks said:
I am reasonably confident that at least one design (though I forget which) tilted the whole reflex box for parallax compensation.

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...

The 1930's Voigtlander SUPERB has this feature... I think....
 

MattKing

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If you want to look for something really rare, there is a Mamiya tripod head with built in paramender - mine works really well .

Matt
 

Woolliscroft

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Roger Hicks said:
I think it was called a Paramender. You can of course achieve exactly the same effect, a good deal cheaper, by raising your centre column by the same amount. As far as I recall, 4 fingers at the first knuckle worked fine for me.

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...

I don't doubt you're right for general use. My wife uses a C330 for macro pictures of archaeological artefacts, where retaining the exact composition is more critical. She swears by the paramender. I just swear at it, as I have just never got the point of TLRs, but each to their own

David.
 

mcgrattan

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The czech Flexarets have parallax corrected closeup lenses (the Flexpars) which are really good in my experience. But, frustratingly, absolutely no parallax indication at all when shooting without the closeup lenses.
 

grahamp

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The only way to _correct_ parallax is to move the taking lens to the position of the viewing lens before making the picture. Tilting the camera to adjust the framing using guides, or using close-up lens sets with a prism on the viewing lens to adjust the framing does not do this. For flatish subjects this compensation works, but for subjects with depth you cannot view the relative positions of the subject components as seen by the taking lens.

I have a close-up set that lives with my Yashicamat, and it is often useful. But it does not compare to the Paramender when doing accurate table-top compositions.
 

fschifano

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Roger Hicks said:
I think it was called a Paramender. You can of course achieve exactly the same effect, a good deal cheaper, by raising your centre column by the same amount. As far as I recall, 4 fingers at the first knuckle worked fine for me.

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...

The distance on center between the taking and viewing lenses of the Mamiya TLR cameras is exactly 50 mm. I have a Paramender that I use once in a while for very close up work. Obviously, it's not very useful unless the camera is mounted on a tripod. I think the OP might have been thinking more along the lines of using the camera hand held for tightly cropped portraits. In that sort of application, you can be close enough to your subject for parallax to become an issue.
 
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