Viewing image from the front of camera

cliveh · Nov 9, 2014

When looking at Fox Talbots early cameras, I think it fascinating that he employed a cork in a hole at the front of the camera to judge the image and perhaps exposure for his photogenic drawings. It makes me wonder if in large format photography it could be advantageous to employ this technique to view the image as projected prior to exposure, rather than the alternative of viewing the image from the back on a ground glass screen. Any thoughts?

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Jim Jones · Nov 9, 2014

A ground glass seems far more versatile. Large Format photography has made many advances since the days of Fox Talbot.

Arklatexian · Nov 9, 2014

cliveh said:
When looking at Fox Talbots early cameras, I think it fascinating that he employed a cork in a hole at the front of the camera to judge the image and perhaps exposure for his photogenic drawings. It makes me wonder if in large format photography it could be advantageous to employ this technique to view the image as projected prior to exposure, rather than the alternative of viewing the image from the back on a ground glass screen. Any thoughts?

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Could Fox Talbot have been looking at the "aerial" (I think it is called) image? I have heard of people gluing a microscope cover glass to the side of the ground glass towards the lens to have a similar effect so they could try to focus using the "aerial image". Does anyone know more about this. I tried it once on an old 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 Speed Graphic and I never could get it to work. Until today I had never heard of the Fox Talbot story....Regards

removed account4 · Nov 9, 2014

cliveh said:
When looking at Fox Talbots early cameras, I think it fascinating that he employed a cork in a hole at the front of the camera to judge the image and perhaps exposure for his photogenic drawings. It makes me wonder if in large format photography it could be advantageous to employ this technique to view the image as projected prior to exposure, rather than the alternative of viewing the image from the back on a ground glass screen. Any thoughts?

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i have had to remove my lens and look in to see
if my exposures were done LOL
the cork is a better idea i think

AgX · Nov 9, 2014

oldtimermetoo said:
Could Fox Talbot have been looking at the "aerial" (I think it is called) image? I have heard of people gluing a microscope cover glass to the side of the ground glass towards the lens to have a similar effect so they could try to focus using the "aerial image". Does anyone know more about this. I tried it once on an old 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 Speed Graphic and I never could get it to work. Until today I had never heard of the Fox Talbot story....Regards

To see the aerial image one must look from behind.
Many view cameras facilitated aerial image viewing by the design of their groundglass.

Vaughn · Nov 9, 2014

cliveh said:
...It makes me wonder if in large format photography it could be advantageous to employ this technique to view the image as projected prior to exposure, rather than the alternative of viewing the image from the back on a ground glass screen. Any thoughts?

With the GG we already see the image upside down -- now this alternative viewing would make the image upside down and backwards!

The reflected image may not be as bright as one thrown on the GG. Magnifying the image for fine-focusing might be more difficult too. Focusing might have to be done on a white piece of paper in a film holder. I suppose it would not be much different than focusing inside one of those giant walk-in cameras.

NedL · Nov 9, 2014

Vaughn said:
Focusing might have to be done on a white piece of paper in a film holder.

This is exactly how I adjusted the focus on my first few homemade box cameras. It works, but it is not easy for exactly the reason you say. The last one I made ( which I just happened to use today! ) I cut a temporary hole in the back and used a piece of glass covered with scotch tape... which allowed using a magnifier to get the focus perfect.

If you were making one of John's retina prints, it would be really interesting to watch the process: first you'd see the scene projected onto the paper, and then as the image started to "print out", the bright areas would darken and the negative image would emerge. It would be pretty interesting be able to watch that transformation.... uh oh, I think my next camera will have a built-in "viewport"!

Dr Croubie · Nov 10, 2014

NedL said:
uh oh, I think my next camera will have a built-in "viewport"!

One of these days I'm going to make a big box-camera (probably a wheelie bin) for shooting huge paper negs with my 600mm Apo-Tessar focussed somewhere near hyperfocal.
I'd never heard of this cork'n'hole, but it sounds like the perfect way to calibrate focus on it...

NedL · Nov 10, 2014

Dr. Croubie,

You should, it is a lot of fun! The one I used today was just a foamcore box that makes 8x10 paper negatives... the amount of detail in them is amazing.

With fixed-focus cameras I have stayed away from hyperfocal and just focused as perfectly as possible at infinity. The reason being that it is convenient to vary the aperture depending on the light and available shutter speeds, and also I like to use some of my lenses opened up in some situations.

Also, if you want to calibrate focus on a projected image on white paper, the easiest way is to do it before you put the "top" on your box. The image is plenty bright to get it in focus with the top or one side of the camera removed. It is hard to get to "critical" focus because you are viewing it from the side at an angle, but it can be done....

rendition · Nov 15, 2014

I used a hotshoed pentax Q with zoom lens/various primes len (d-mount/cs-mount) to accommodate live view on 4x5 and 8x10 if I got bored with ground glass. Consider as a marriage of analog and digital and as a functional EVF and an exposure meter also. I don't really need it with ground-glass camera but I do find it useful with my 6x12 camera or those without ground glass.

AgX · Nov 15, 2014

a sacrilege...

Viewing image from the front of camera

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