Large Format Focusing Technique

[@TheMungo54]

Great content

[@tonysantophotography]

Thank you!

[@niallmorrissey3715]

My Sinar (and I guess that this is where specific products may differ), tells me to focus on the distant object (using the rear standard), zero the readings on the microfocus wheel and the reading for degree of tilt before then focusing on the near object. This will give me an aperture reading. I use that at the lens and, and then I turn my focus back to a reading of one half of that aperture - i.e; defocusing both of the objects in the ground glass.

[@tonysantophotography]

Its nice to have that feature built in to your Sinar. Thanks for sharing! I appreciate your support.😀

[@fulltang1]

Thanks for providing practical exercises to practice this technique with clear visual demonstration. Incredibly helpful for us visual and hands on learners 😊

[@tonysantophotography]

You are very welcome! Thanks for your support!

[@andyvan5692]

Tony at 8:48 this axial focus technique has another, similar method on the sinars, they have a sheimpflug scale on the focuser a dial which when a near subject is focused, this dial is set at zero, the second far away subject is then focused, the dial setting shows +\- and a number, this is then translated to the swing\ tilt axis the +/- giving the correct direction of motion..... the subjects NOW are focused at the same time (the plane of focus is now adjusted correctly), now just refocus to the optimal point for the scene.

[@tonysantophotography]

Cool! I did enjoy using the Sinar system when I had the chance. Wonderful cameras! Thanks for watching!😎

[@martincutrone5816]

Great review, in a straightforward manner, demystifying some of these techniques. Good job!

[@tonysantophotography]

Thanks for the kind words Martin! I appreciate you taking the time to watch!😎

[@thomaspopple2291]

One of the better explanations I have found on this subject. Thank you.

[@tonysantophotography]

Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate your support!

[@RadovanFaltus]

Great aid to me a beginner, thanks Tony.

[@tonysantophotography]

You are very welcome! Appreciate your support! 😎

[@chriscard6544]

very well explained

[@tonysantophotography]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@jaytayag810]

Great video, Tony! It's nice to see what I missed by not going to school for this stuff. :P

[@tonysantophotography]

Thanks Jay! That’s what YT is for now guess! 😂

[@andyvan5692]

one other focus technique unique to the sinars/Toyo and other monorail modular systems is a binocular finder, a mirror inside a pentagonal p.v.c. box, with a welding goggle piece at one end to view through; this has magnification, and is a great isolator of light, and can be affixed on either ground glass frame, or in the sinar case, on the standards themselves (the bellows frame of the standards is the same size!)- increases the systems' adaptability to shooting scenarios.

[@tonysantophotography]

I appreciate your wealth of knowledge Andy! Thank you for taking the time to share with all of us.😀

[@Shiunbird]

Brilliant video, thank you!

[@tonysantophotography]

Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate your support.😎

[@O.Persson]

Nice explanation, I've never really thought about the last part before. But it makes sense when you think about it.

[@tonysantophotography]

Thank you my friend! I appreciate your support. 😎

[@StephaneBihan]

thank you! I learn a lot with you

[@tonysantophotography]

You are very welcome! I appreciate your support. 😎

[@diegoramosg]

Love these videos ! Really helpful as I have never taken a LF class

[@tonysantophotography]

I’m really happy that you are enjoying and learning from my videos Diego! I appreciate your support. 😎

[@wilbertvandenberg3158]

Excellent explanations.

[@tonysantophotography]

Thanks Wilbert! I appreciate your support.

[@willthethrill521]

WOWE that was informative :) ty sir

[@tonysantophotography]

Thank you Will! I’m glad you found it informative. I appreciate your support.

[@ruudmaas2480]

I mostly use front axel tilt.

[@tonysantophotography]

Cool. Thanks for watching!

[@Dark_Viking]

Handy tips! With great demo and explanations. Thanks!

[@tonysantophotography]

Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to watch!

[@legacy_mens]

my 500 👍

[@andyvan5692]

Tony, if you want a lighter sinar camera, Try the F2, a 'Field' version of this monorail system, the function cars (where the knobs are), is a lot lighter in construction- Not that is so light it can't do it's job, it still is strong enough to hold a lens out at 1M+ ( as is customary in the extended condition for macro work), there is even 8x10" rear standards which can be affixed to this monorail if so desired.

[@tonysantophotography]

That’s interesting. I’ll have to check it out. Thank you! 😃

[@Narsuitus]

When I take high camera angle shots of boxed food products, the high camera angle results in distortion caused by the rear standard no longer being parallel to the vertical subject lines. Adjusting the rear standard to make it parallel to the vertical subject lines eliminates this distortion. From the high camera angle, I may also need to tilt and/or swing the front standard to control the plane of focus. What tips do you suggest for using front and back standard movements for the same subject?

[@tonysantophotography]

That's definitely a series of complex movements. I would recommend building one type of movement at a time. For precise work, f you use a high output light source, you could stop down the lens and look on the ground glass if you are getting what you were looking for. Thanks watching! 😎

[@alanhuntley55]

Very clear and concise explanation of these techniques. One thing I learned long ago when applying base tilts is to keep my hand on the focus knob and slowly refocus as I move the standard. This avoids the multiple iterations to "get it right."

[@tonysantophotography]

Great tip Alan! Thank you for sharing! I appreciate your support!😎

[@jpdj2715]

When you're wondering why "we needed" tilt/swing in order to change the focused-on plane, it's because your 35mm camera's portrait lens would be ~600mm at 8"*10" and even at f/90 has shallow Depth of Field (DoF). That's why the tilt in the tree/house example is needed to get both sharp. The "Constitution" of focusing is Scheimpflug's Law that says that when the intersection (crossing line) between film plane, focus plane, and lens plane is in one line, then you have a perfect match. This works in the neutral/zero position because of the axiom in geometry that defines that parallel lines/planes cross at infinity. In tilt/swing it really helps to keep Scheimpflug (shime pfloog) in mind.

[@tonysantophotography]

Thanks for adding to our discussion JP. I appreciate your Support. 😎

[@c.augustin]

You said "Scheimpflug" the right way - I'm impressed! 😁 A good overview over all of what I would ever need - the moment I get my real lenses operational … (Not having to worry about all this is one appeal of pinhole photography. "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept.", as Henri Cartier-Bresson said.😉)

[@tonysantophotography]

Thanks Christian! I appreciate your support! 😎

[@johnkawooya8421]

Tony, Very good! I think Fred Newman's method of iterated focusing to the farthest object and tilting the lens to bring the nearest objects in sharp focus foollwed by stopping the lens to bring the entire scene in sharp focus is simpler and nore interactive than Alex's mathematical method. I want to get your take on the latter method

[@tonysantophotography]

Hi John. Thanks for watching this video. Have you watched my other video on optimizing aperture? That's where I discuss Alex Burke's method. I appreciate your support.😃

[@michaelricco81]

This was very interesting, and I think i have an idea why my photos are not focused all the way through. I will have to watch this video over and over again in increments. To back up and begin at a very elementary level, when you begin focusing, is your lens wide open? To attain deep focus, much like Ansel Adams, do you suggest (once focused) stopping down to f64? Or a larger aperture. Btw, I have an Intrepid 4x5. Thank you so much.

[@tonysantophotography]

Hi Michael. I'm glad you are here. I always begin focusing wide open, then I stop down the lens as I'm viewing the ground glass to make sure all the areas I want to be acceptably sharp are good. Have you watched my other video on optimizing aperture. Hope this help. Thanks for watching!

[@tamasnemeth2161]

It was a very entertaining video, but to be honest it was way less informative that what Thomas Cristopher Moore uploaded 16 years ago ( Scheimpflug / Plane of focus on KZbin). Still it was fun to watch!

[@tonysantophotography]

Tamas, I am always happy to entertain. I appreciate you taking the time to watch. Cheers!😃

[@peterebel7899]

But how to shoot birds in flight?

[@tonysantophotography]

LOL! 😂 That’s a lesson for another video! Thanks for watching!

[@peterebel7899]

@@tonysantophotography ... with the very same camera .... ;-)

[@peterebel7899]

@@michaelmoss2901 And the exposure to be selected alongside the nice rule best in in our language: Die Sonne lacht Blende acht In English there is the "sunny 16"

[@niallmorrissey3715]

An obliging taxiderimst, a very long bamboo stick, some very fine wire, and you're all done. There is a guy who uses a Graflex in the Formula One arena. It works! That brings me back, though, to a former colleague who was a keen photographer and who one day showed me his entries for a club competition. He'd gone to a F3 race, and his photos were triumphs technically. Beautiful composition, fantastic colours, mastery of dynamic range. His pride was a photo of a car passing at high speed. The car was rendered in incredible detail, was almost as clean and defined as if you were looking at the blueprints, and the faces of the crowd could have been used as evidence for identification in a court. It was awful. No sense of movement, no excitement. It looked like a parked car. Hell, the road surface was clear. Too many hours at a screen.