Enough words. Let pictures speak !
One of the probably best applications for this kind of camera is architecture photography. Please find here a small selection of some work of mine, using the possibilities of a Monorail View camera like the Sinar:
old factory site 'Eisfabrik', Berlin
river side, Berlin, 'Molecule Men'
digital large format panorama photography
facing upwards around 15 degrees
placing the focus, where needed ...
the bigger 6x6 ... format
Take a closer look at the hand railing left side vs. right side !
Another fascinating field is macro photography. The following sample images were taken with the Digital Sinar Setup, described above and the Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 90mm lens.
Digital Large Format Macro Photography
What might that be ? Well this detail of …. we will see later … is a 100 percent crop of the full size image, at 300 dpi.
Digital Large Format Macro Photography
Zooming out, we start seeing what we have in front of the lens …
Digital Large Format Photography
Now it’s clear ! We are looking at the backside of a 2,5inch hard drive. The next image shows the fullscale photograph, which has a size of 11300 x 6600 pixel. This results in a print size of 96 x 55 cm at 300 dpi, or 192 x 111 cm at 150 dpi which would be more than sufficient for a print size like that.
Digital Large Format Macro Photography
This image was photo merged out of 25 RAW files using Photoshop CS3 (1,17 GB file size).
Most often I use the large format for Cityscapes:
Warschauer Brücke, Berlin, LF photograph
Holocaust Memorial & Reichstag, Berlin. LF photograph
The incredible amount of detail one can extract from such an image is nicely visible looking at the next image – a crop at natural resolution of the famous dome of the Reichstag.
Dome of the Reichstag. Berlin. Crop from previous LF photograph
Please click to see the full resolution. The full image, showing the Reichstag, the American consulate and the Holocaust Memorial in front has 9870 x 5872 pixel (equal to an 60 MB image).
Dear Peter,
Your method is just the best solution to cut the budget of large format digital photography. I’m going to get a LF and the film processing is so expensive and I don’t have enough time to develop B&W by my self. And your method just show me the light in darkness.
But I still wonder that, the movable adapter I found in eBay, is it usable? The link is: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Moveable-Digital-back-4×5-camera-Canon-EOS-40D-5D-II-/280490725199?pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_DigitalCameras_DigitalCameras_JN&hash=item414e8ccf4f#ht_11062wt_1141
I see it from the image that it can only move horizontally. So the final merged picture will only be, say three vertically merged image? It will not be the same size of 4×5, even smaller than medium format?
Hope you can help me out with this. Thank you.
Best regards
Kris
Hi Kris,
As I use it only for Architecture and sometimes Landscapes, it works very well for me. To answer your question: The adapter is usable, because the ‘up-down-movement’ you can achieve by changing the position of the rear standard (with respect to the front standard) of the view camera. In order to shoot a ’4×5′, I usually move up BOTH the front and rear standard by 2 or 3 positions – this is my middle row to shot (here you move the adapter left and right to shot the first 3 or 5 frames). Then you go let’s say up one step, shot another row (or two). Now, the lower part (below your initial ‘middle line’). With 5 frames per row, you can end up with something like e.g. 5×3. The good thing about the setup is, that you are totally flexible with the ‘framing’ of your final image. As long as you have enough ‘overlap’ from frame to frame (in both x- and y-direction), stitching the single frames together will be never a problem.
Hope, this helps …
Peter
Thank you very much, your reply is very helpful to me. It explains very clear. But there is one thing that I cannot understand. When putting it (movable)horizontal, how to achieve to move it up and down? Maybe when the camera arrived, I could figure it out.
Thanks again.
Kris
Hi Kris,
I am talking bout a SINAR monorail viewcamera here. If you look t this image http://fauland.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/sinar_lens.jpg you see the camera setup seen from the front. This rectangular black frame that keeps the lens would be the ‘front standard’ …. The other one, keeping the sliding adapter with the DSLR attached is the ‘rear standard’. Both of them have a mount with two vertical columns that are used to keep them in position AND to allow an ‘up-down’ movement. Like this you can move the rear part up and down, using this component of the camera, while the left right movement is done with the help of the adapter.
Which camera are you using ? (planing to use?)
Cheers,
Peter
Ahh…I’ve seen my friens horseman 45 before, and I understand it could tilt(shift), so…when saying the movement(up&down) of ‘rear standard’, is like shifting the rear part of the camera? I’m not sure which one I’m going to get yet, but pretty sure will be a linhof 4×5.
I appreciate your help, thank you very much.
Kris
YES. You can move both the front and rear part of any viewcamera up and down, besides being able to rotate it around a vertical axis to the left and right (around 10 to 15 degrees, for most cameras). Initially, using it with plane film, the reason for that is that you can correct ‘converging lines’ or have several object that are placed at different distances from the camera ALL in focus. Google for shift, tilt and tilt-shift ….
Cheers,
Peter
PS.: Linhof is an excellent choice ! Be aware that you will have to experiment a bit to find out what (wide-angle) lens will still allow you to focus to infinity. Here, I assume you will be taking also landscape etc. …. As explained in the referring section, the fact that the CHIP (=film plane) of the camera is much further backwards, compared to the original design of the camera, you can not really use WIDE ANGLE lenses …
got it, thx Peter, I’ll keep following your website, cheers mate.
Kris
Hi
I have a starnge question.
i use a canon eos 1ds mark 3.
I shoot food and want to select focus more.
i have a tse 90mm canon tilt shift lens.
i don’t need large files.
is it possible to achieve a better focus selected place on the subject than using the 90mm lens.
does your system allow for tilt
Hi Andrew,
these kind of shooting situations are exactly what view cameras like the sinar are perfect for. You can select tilt AND shift and get just the plane in focus you want. I never used the TSE 90mm but as far as I know you have +- 2,5 degrees movement with this lens. You flexibility very high shooting with a view camera – this is for sure.
Let me know, if you have further questions.
Cheers,
Peter