Why Pro Photographers are Moving To This Camera

Discover the camera that all pro commercial still life product photographers swear by in this video. See why this camera is a game-changer for product photography!
This is also a full breakdown of how this technical camera works brilliantly for still life, product, food and drink photography using a Cambo, Mamiya RZ lenses and a medium format fuji gfx 100s camera system.
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[@TinHouseStudioUK]

Here is a link to a lovely indie shop that sells the technical camera. You can call them and chat to them for more info (no sponsor or kick backs for me etc, just good people) teamworkphoto.com/online-store/cameras-and-lenses/technical-cameras/cambo-actus-mv-view-camera/

[@AbleLawrence]

It is not clear why this can’t be done using a Tilt-Shift when you can rotate the axis of Tilt

[@andyvan5692]

Great, thanks TinHouse, but I've got myself a SINAR F2, which has more movements than the mv and can handle digital As well as 4x5" sheet film. But thanks for this link, am sure that it is worth while to someone else.

[@anthonyton7o699]

@@andyvan5692 curious to know what digital back you use with it and how much crop you get compared to a 5x4 sheet. Thanks

[@andyvan5692]

@@anthonyton7o699 I don't, not on the sinar, I have a dedicated Hasselblad H2 for that (a Phase One P45+ to answer the question); it's 33x44mm or there abouts, according to spec sheets, a little {1-2cm}shorter than 6x4.5 film for some perspective, a "cropped" MF, not like my 120 6x6 500c\m, which I shoot as well, all fun, for my own interest, and the enjoyment of the process of shooting analogue, the 6x6 is ~ 1/4 the 4x5" size so somewhere in between this and 135 format ~1/16th size.

[@andyvan5692]

also a point here, these physical manipulations are due to the Sheimpflug principle, which governs focus plane adjustments, but the back standard does some shape and perspective transformations to, like making the bottle on the left/right closer in size to each other, or to make them appear further from each other, you can almost do a house of mirrors effects with the products. For others reading this, these are summed up in a video (old), done by Calumet Photographic, titled "Large Format: the professionals choice"; its a rigged for tv first day of a graduate photographer entering a LF studio, and the boss teaching him the ropes of LF, very informative.

[@jpdj2715]

That German man was called Scheimpflug (shime pfloog). His "thing", law, starts with a pre-existing axiom in geometry that parallel lines or planes cross at infinity. So this applies to the film plane, lens plane, and subject-focused-on plane that cross in a shared line in the default situation where the three planes are parallel to each other. Well, said Scheimpflug, you retain being in focus, when you rotate (tilt/swing) these planes in a way that they intersect in one line - you shifted the intersection from infinity to closer by, maybe right under your tripod. A lens has its optical axis (Z-axis) and its nodal point where the center point of the imaginary image rotations is, so the lens plane is perpendicular in the nodal point to the optical axis. I wouldn't say the manipulations are due to Scheimpflug, as you are not obliged to follow his "law", but then are presented with challenges more so than when you do. The miniature effect is an example. Generally, we used Scheimpflug when we needed more Depth of Field (DoF) than we could get with our Large Format (LF) lenses. Your full frame camera's nifty fifty must be 350mm for the same image angle at 8"*10" so your 85mm portrait lens would be some 600mm and that has very thin DoF. Even at f/90. In such cases, we used Scheimpflug to rotate the focusing plane to where it give sharpness where we need it. Note that DoF also rotates with this. Famous portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh used a Calumet 8"*10" camera with a 14" commercial/pro Kodak Ektar lens on it. At 8"*10"this gives a nifty fifty angle, but he shot most single person portraits on a 4"*5" back, meaning there's a 2x crop factor there. I doubt that he used tilt/swing a lot.

[@consywonsy]

Can u nerds put a sock in it

[@HelpingHand48]

This is one of the best comments ever, thank you for all this knowledge!

[@andyvan5692]

@@jpdj2715 fair point, perhaps not due to the law, but maybe re stating in another way, this law gives the pinpoint focus in Tinhouse's images in these shots, the movements themselves are for perspective and correct alignment of shapes, but this law guides us in how to get the focus plane where we want it, to ensure we do have focus.

[@mathewmorgan9248]

2:57 That's why cameras we used back in the day had rear swing. Front swing can take you out of the coverage of the lens; rear swing doesn't move your comp.

[@davidward1224]

The Cambo MV and Fuji GFX 100S is also a perfect camera for architecture. Which is where I use it most often. One observation: Scott said "near" infinity focus. I can confirm that infinity focus with the RZ lenses as well as the lenses for Mamiya M6 is possible. When I started doing commercial photography decades ago it was mostly with 4x5 or 5x7 view cameras. Having front and back rise, tilt and swing capabilities again is refreshing.

[@Salaaran]

I was actually thinking if it would be a useful setup for architecture, nice to know and could be relevant for work. Cheers for the comment here :)

[@iNerdier]

Do you get aperture control with rz lenses and a cambo?

[@Salaaran]

@@iNerdier Based on what I can find, then the Mamiya Lenses are fully manual? Then you can adjust the aperture on the lens :)

[@c.augustin]

A very good demonstration! I hope more people get to understand what was lost when photographers moved away from view cameras with all their movements. And glad to see that they are coming back (even though only as a niche product, and crazy expensive - but those cameras always were).

[@davidcaskie6680]

I keep thinking I'd like to go back to shooting with a 4x5 film camera again! Less technology, but so satisfying...

[@justintheowlman]

What wonderful masterclass on a Tuesday morning.

[@chadwickerman]

I haven't shot on a technical camera since the film days. They are quite a skill to learn but they give such good results.

[@logskidder5655]

Great tutorial as the digital world reintroduces us to tilt, shift and focusing capabilities of my 100+ year old cameras.

[@NickGuttridge]

I use a similar camera, an Arca Swiss F Metric for architecture. Carrying it around all day. Wish I was a studio photographer!

[@vinyalonde]

Heroic angle! I love that. A photography instructor I had used to refer to that view as Soviet Realism. It was great for tractors or other agricultural equipment. Wonderful video -- thanks for putting this up. Do you ever project a grid from above down onto the bottom plane of your frame?

[@carliiiartist]

Thank you so much for this great tutorial! I also enjoy watching you manipulate the aspects of the image by using the Cambo 🔥

[@JeahnLaffitte]

I've been craving more information on technical cameras and this really scratched my itch! Thank you for the demo. This is truly a dream setup for me

[@liveinaweorg]

A really helpful video to help me confirm what I thought I knew about my 4x5 film camera. Thanks Scott.

[@rustyschackleford5800]

I think some context is missing, it's basically a medium format digital view camera. This used to be done on 4x5 with polaroids for previewing. The problem is, digital backs are still very expensive.

[@alexandermasters7827]

They're really not. A IQ1 50/Credo 50 are like 2.5k on the used market.

[@myvtvbe]

Found the gold ring on etsy - searched for 'Mamiya Sekor-Z DOF Preview holder' - (available as of 12-15-24) also in black or white.

[@PsychedelicChameleon]

Thank you for showing these. I have a very old photography book that has one small section that explains these same ideas, but it's much more understandable with your demonstrations and long explanation.

[@buggersee7617]

Rocking the a7riv on a cambo actus with a cambo actar 90 lens. It is just such a joy to work with

[@SpencerCobbyPhotography]

If possible can you post the link to where I can buy the aperture adapter, Gaffa tape just doesn't cut it. Many thanks and great video

[@sgroadie6367]

I shoot with my Sinar P and GFX. A Chinese company used to make a RB/RZ mount which allows you to use the leaf shutter as well. You can trigger the flash with the PC port, and sync till 1/400s.

[@Mahdi-bb4hg]

Can you do a comparison between your Cambo and a TS lens, but using a DSLR? I think it is going to be interesting for a lot of people to see how these two systems compare on a side-by-side kind of photo comparison, especially with a DSLR back. Thanks

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

Great suggestion!

[@Mahdi-bb4hg]

Amazing, thank you!

[@davidward1224]

The immediate difference that you'll notice is that a TS lenses is a lens plane movement device unless using a bracket that clamps around the lens so its movements are transferred to the film plane while locking the lens front element. Lens element movement moves the subject on the sensor plan which means having to move the camera to recenter. Having the rear movements in combination, as Scott demonstrated, permits repositioning the subject in the frame without having to move the camera.

[@dans.7693]

Thanks! That answered my question from the other day. I understand that the RZ lens is amazing, but couldn't you use a 4x5 view camera lens and have an even bigger image circle??

[@amirmireskandari1520]

Great video. Thanks for sharing. Always best to do as much as possible in camera and this is great demonstration of how to do great product photography, effectively and effectively. I use this set up for architectural shots also. Thanks for sharing. ❤

[@janbuergermeister]

Does this setup also work with my GFX 100 and did you ever use that for architecture / real estate? Thx 4 your professional content 👍👍

[@HelpingHand48]

This video makes me feel all kinds of happy

[@bjornaagedk]

Great video. What mamiya lens are you using?

[@michael195b]

Very interesting video, never realised so much could be done with a Cambo, I thought it was just for helping DOF

[@DavidCWiley]

thats absolutely brilliant sir!

[@aeonsnarfus]

I am now having a severe G.A.S. attack. Thank goodness I am skint. 😂

[@bryanquick2709]

Excellent demo and explanation of a view camera for a 'Non-Techie' Cheers!

[@Dale.m.photoimages]

I would think any good 4x5 view camera would do pretty much the same adjustments. I used a Sinar P45 back in the day in my studio. Of course, now you can just snap on a 150mp digital back. A nice used p45 is about $1500 usd. Or less.

[@colinbluth5461]

what is the name of those 'pillars' and other gear you are using to make this work?

[@jeffhampton6972]

This is wild. Thank you for explaining all that!

[@j.f.7509]

This is great! I'm learning a lot. Thank you!

[@myvtvbe]

Thanks for the excellent demo. Would love the contact for the lens ring.

[@YSL11500]

I just upgraded to the same system - GFX, Mamiya sekor, actus, capture one and I got a question about shooting a frame. Everytime I try to shoot a frame from C1 nothing happens but works fine when done from the camera. Has anyone experienced this before? Lmk I have a shoot next week.

[@JohnDoukasPhotography]

What is the focal length of the lens you’re using? I have a Canon 90mm tilt shift that I like, but I run into the limitations as you say. I was thinking of getting a medium format lens and adapting to my Canon.

[@Noname-yu8qw]

How can you have such a long usb cable ? is it amplified or something ?

[@davidgraczyk]

How the lens communicates with the camera in this set, I mean the shutter and aperture. Is it on the cable?

[@iNerdier]

It doesn’t. You stop down on the lens and use the gfx shutter.

[@killpop8255]

Are you looking at a problem with dust on the open (?) sensor, and then possible damage repeatedly cleaning it, (because I read cleaning IBIS sensors will eventually brick them) ?

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

I’ve only once in 15 years needed to clean a sensor with a swab. I’ve m yet to have dust issues with this camera too, I assumed it would be hellish as it’s a dust blowing bellows.

[@chilecayenne]

LOL....all this "new" gear...with digital medium format....we're just NOW getting close to the functionality of the the old large format (4x5, 8x10, etc) film cameras of the past. ;) What is old....is new again!! Fun video. How do you find using the vintage MF lenses with the digital MF sensor? I've been having fun adapting lenses to my mirrorless cameras (GFX100, M10M, etc)....and frankly, I love the looks I get...no, not clinically sharp like modern lenses, but more character. I'm curious, is this lack of clinical you get with the mamiya lenses ok with your clients? Thank you in advance, CC

[@alexandermasters7827]

RZ lenses are tack sharp. It's been a digital platform for the better part of two decades.

[@isoawe1888]

I hate that I followed your channel. I don’t own a tilt/shift lens… have no idea how I would use one ( well, except for landscapes )… yet, I want one because they intrigue me. This is about the same price as upcoming Fuji GFX lenses, but, with this, I can change focal length. Only downside I see , it looks a bit cumbersome. Would you put this on a tripod with GFX 100ii and try to shoot the buildings of NYC? Thanks for your knowledge.

[@nelsonclub7722]

No. We don't swear by it - but its a cool thing with the Actus and Mamiya RZ lenses are the bomb for their age, size and price.

[@rafibenatar2519]

Linhof 23 C dose same much smaller camera with more options of lenses as well 🙌👍🏻

[@Twobarpsi]

Amazing genre of photography!

[@matuszewskistudio]

hey scott, would you be so kind and give me some help with tethering fuji? you've said couple of times that it's a nightmare to tether and i can't get it to work

[@kart182]

Legendary skills

[@Mortenthorpe-DK]

Wouldn’t the bottle-hero-shot be possible with the GF tilt shift 30mm lens? Or are the required angles beyond the parameters of that lens?

[@alexandermasters7827]

Sure. If you want to shoot with a 30mm.

[@Mortenthorpe-DK]

@@alexandermasters7827 or the 110, probably more suitable for product photography

[@pauldarville3843]

Very informative, Thanks!!!

[@marcusnz232]

Quite fascinating. Makes my X2D look like a Kodak Brownie! 😂

[@Iareawesome100]

It's tilt shift + ✨

[@vperalta]

I shoot Canon. Which Canon tilt shift lens would handle similar adjustments?

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

No tilt shift lens will do similar to a technical camera

[@mynameisnotcory]

Frankly, i cant wait until 4x5 digital backs and medium format digital cameras become like 500-600 bucks some day…maybe they never will…maybe we’ll have this tech in our damn phone someday too

[@bp-blackshark]

It depends on the camera. If you own a DSLR, you are restricted with the mirror box, so a tilt/shift lens - like the latest canon ones - is plenty enough ( i own a canon 90mm/f2.8 L tilt and shift lens). A mirrorless camera will perform better on a cambo bellows system. But nothing will beat a medium format camera backpack on a camera like this, because there is NO lens-mount in front of the sensor.

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

I’ve read this but having used Dslr, mirrorless and digital back on this system I’ve not had any real world issues.

[@bp-blackshark]

@@TinHouseStudioUK The mirror box from a DSLR should restrict the angles, you would be able to tilt and swing the back part from the cambo with the DSLR without getting vignettings. This is more or less the reason, i just only bought a tilt and shift lens for my Canon DSLR, because i wouldn´t be able to use the full adjustments on the Cambo Actus-XL-35, which would cost me 6000€ without a lens. Wit a new mirrorless R5 as an example, this would probably be a different story. And this isn´t the cambo you did use with the old 50MP Canon DSLR´s. The other one couldn´t tilt and swing the back part with the DSLR...only the part with the lens. Your current cambo is able to tilt and swing the front part with the lens and the back part with the Fuji. With a DSLR, you would get vignettings a lot earlier, as with the mirrorless medium format Fuji.

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

I’ve used all three on this body. Maybe the smaller sensor of a Dslr means you don’t notice it as soon as say a Dslr with a larger sensor. So a small Dslr compared to a large back in real world seems the same. Although it is rare I hit the extremes so that may be why o noticed no difference in image circle and vignette

[@cambofotografischeindustri3415]

That's true, but only when using focal lengths shorter than (approx.)70mm. Mirrorless gives you a broader lens choice than DSLR, but in a studio setting, using longer focal lengths it doesn't matter much.

[@AndrewBassonZA]

i still want to use that for portraits or insect macro stuff

[@alexandermasters7827]

that's a focus stacking thing, not a swing thing.

[@AndrewBassonZA]

@@alexandermasters7827 insects this side of the planet only give you 1 maybe 2 photos with flash before they run off, not really good for focus stacking , with swing you can adjust your plane of focus , meaning if an insect is sitting on a leaf I can adjust it to run down the side of the insect as an example allowing me greater depth to work with meaning I would not need to stack anything, same for portraits, controlling the angle of what is in focus should allow me to as example shoot at F1.2 and have the plane of focus adjusted so I still get both eyes in focus it will be a fun experiment to see what type of results I end up with

[@rabeabutto8808]

already missing the 5ds and 5dr

[@Salaaran]

I wanna get that setup or something similar so bad, but holy moly it's an investment, and I would imagine there is other things I could get before this, that would be a bigger win for my workflow for an amatur.

[@alexandermasters7827]

It's about 2.5k for the actus. You can adapt any lens/camera to it.

[@Salaaran]

@@alexandermasters7827 2.5K is still a decent amount, especially since I want to do other things besides still life. Though I do not doubt it would be a massively useful piece of kit :D

[@angelamaloney4871]

And this is why I’m a fine art photographer instead of a commercial photographer. Admittedly, I will probably never make the kind of money Scott does. But this doesn’t look much fun to me. But I have a great time.

[@rustyschackleford5800]

Camera movements can be extremely valuable to fine art photographers. It would be like a painter discovering a new color.

[@falklumo]

I am confused. If I am getting you right, you talk about a £3,300 bellows here, correct? I get it that I can use, e.g., a GFX100 and a range of medium format lenses to be adapted. But probably with no electronic lens control, right? Nevertheless, calling this a camera is misleading, I think.

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

You can use electronic lenses with certain backs, but not all. A cambo is 100% a camera. Same as a sinar or linhof is a camera.

[@vijaychitte6921]

Hey I like your blue jacket also …

[@andyvan5692]

great explanation of the cambo MV, PS those movements are called indirect rise/fall, as you angle the rail\base of the camera down/up, but tilt to get level again, giving you extra rise, or if you pan the ball head, and swing the standards, you have extra shift.

[@RayRay-uw6ms]

no wonder our agency doesnt hire photography anymore, it's just so much easier and cheaper to do in 3D thesedays

[@monkeysausageclub]

This technique is over 100 years old. A decent field camera will have the same movement from the front and rear standards. It's still amazing how this works.

[@rolandrick]

The swing is called the Scheimpflug rule 🙋‍♂️

[@marksharman8029]

Good lord. I knew product shoots could be super fiddly; and my landscape process is inconceivable, for most, but this... this is a whole other thing.

[@nageshwagh2476]

Get the digitar or digarons rather than the actars

[@TeddyCavachon]

How things were done in the dark ages before Photoshop 😂

[@salat]

"Moving to this camera" - so applying Scheimpflug's principle with bellows and rails is like "new" now again? I feel old..

[@TinHouseStudioUK]

Its affordable again, for years a set up would be £50K + in digital. This was only around £7K

[@ajaaoka6364]

Or just get a 4x5 setup with a graflok plate adapter like we've been using for the last 20 years.

[@ronjenkins4257]

Perfect for the street photography i plan to do one day: "If you'll just stand here for a minute or two I promise I'll make you a hero!"

[@steveh8658]

it'll take a couple of minutes for them to put on the cape and boots anyway!

[@brapperdan]

You think AI is going to put commercial photographers such as yourself out of a job? Interesting video topic?

[@motorvelo]

This is basic commercial photography. Any commercial photographer who doesn’t get this should be doing a different job.

[@greg2142]

I've been producing commercial photography for the last 12 years and I have never used bellows or tilt shifts before. There's many ways to skin a cat. So I can safely say I don't use his exact methods, does this mean I should find a different career?

[@MarkKidsley1989]

Depends what you're shooting..

[@motorvelo]

I can’t think of a true commercial photographer who at some time in their career does still life, product or architectural assignments that shouldn’t be using these principles. Sure there are work arounds but they are all compromises.

[@greg2142]

@@motorvelo It's not a compromise at all. It comes down to work flow and personal preferences. I get the same results at the end of the day. It has never been an issue for me.

[@roybixby6135]

Cheaper than Hasselblad tilt/shift ..🦘

[@alexandermasters7827]

It's really not. The HTS is 1.6k