[Leica] Trip to India - Suggestions?

[alal at duke.poly.edu (A. Lal)]

Hi Frank,

I was using the term 'shift' in its general sense, i.e, movement of the 
lens' axis away from the center of the image frame. On a non-bellows camera 
you select the direction of the movement: left, right, up down, diagonal, 
and so on, and move the lens in the selected direction.

If the building is very tall, and one cannot avoid pointing the camera up, 
you need a high vantage point - which I mentioned in my original post - to 
avoid converging verticals.

A shift only camera is a bit of a compromise, but quite practical.

Regards,
Akhil
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Frank Filippone" <red735i@earthlink.net>
To: "'Leica Users Group'" <lug@leica-users.org>
Sent: Saturday, 15 December, 2007 10:23 PM
Subject: RE: [Leica] Trip to India - Suggestions?


>I do not quite understand why shift would help....
>
> Starting with some definitions I have learned....
> Shift is the movement left to right of the film or the front lens board.
> Rise/fall is straight up and down.
> Tilt is pointing up or down.
> Swing is pointing the lens left to right....relative to the film plane.
>
> I would think to get a good picture of the monuments, from basically 
> ground
> level, and to avoid converging verticals, you would move the front LB UP 
> and
> keep the LB and the film plane parallel to the object.  This usually
> requires some amount of tilt, front and back, and pointing the camera
> upwards.
>
> Shift would help if you can only get so far to the right, but your subject
> is even farther to the right than you wish,,,,,, and you want correct
> non-converging horizontals ( where you see the perspective or vanishing
> lines).  Rather than pointing your camera to theo right, which introduces
> distortion, you just shift the lens board to the right, keeping the film
> plane parallel to the front of your object.
>
> BTW, the Hasselblad FlexBody does rise, fall, and tilt very nicely, and
> works with all the normal shuttered Hasselblad lenses......
> Or,as you state, a PC lens would work..... "shift" the lens up ( which is
> really front rise) and maybe a bit of tilt to fix the converging
> verticals...... don't forget your tripod.......!
>
> Maybe the problem is that you use the term "shift" in the sense of moving
> the lens in a plane up or down.... and I use it as the definition of 
> moving
> the lens right to left?  In which case we are talking about the same
> thing......
>
> See.. it is all in the definitions.......I think.....
>
> Of course, there is always the ALPA.......!
>
> Frank Filippone
> red735i@earthlink.net
>
>
> Of course a view camera would be ideal, no question, but it would add a 
> lot
> of weight and be very slow to work with.  IME simple shift and a high
> vantage point are usually sufficient to get a good image with no lean or
> distortion.
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Frank Filippone" <red735i@earthlink.net>
> To: "'Leica Users Group'" <lug@leica-users.org>
> Sent: Saturday, 15 December, 2007 9:04 PM
> Subject: RE: [Leica] Trip to India - Suggestions?
>
>
>> Shifts?   Do you not mean swings and or more importantly, tilts and front
>> rise/ back fall?
>>
>> Frank Filippone
>> red735i@earthlink.net
>>
>>
>> 1.    Take with you a 6x9 or  6x12 camera with shifts if you intend to
>> take
>> photos of monuments. A 35mm camera with a wide angle lens is not adequate
>> to
>>
>> do justice to these structures IMHO. No need to take a view camera,
>> Horseman
>>
>> makes a shift camera that is quite portable. If you don't want to do 
>> this,
>> take at least a 28 mm shift lens for your R.
>
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>