View Camera - Operation

Operation

The camera must be set up in a suitable position. In some cases the subject can also be manipulated, as in a studio; in others the camera must be positioned to photograph a subject such as a landscape. The camera must be mounted in a way that prevents camera motion for the duration of the exposure. Usually a tripod is used; two may be required for a long camera.

To operate the view camera, the photographer opens the shutter on the lens to focus and compose the image on a ground glass plate on the rear standard. The ground glass is held in the same plane that the film will later occupy, so that an image that is well focused on the ground glass will be well focused on the film. The ground glass image is somewhat dim and can be difficult to view in bright light. The photographer will often use a focusing cloth or "dark cloth" over his or her head, and the rear of the camera. The dark cloth shrouds the viewing area and keeps environmental light from obscuring the image. In the dark space created by the dark cloth, the image appears as bright as it can and allows the image to be most easily viewed, assisting in focusing and composition.

Often a photographer will use a magnifying lens, usually a high quality loupe, to critically focus the image. An addition over the ground glass called a Fresnel lens can considerably brighten the ground glass image (albeit with a slight loss of focusing accuracy). The taking lens may be stopped down to help gauge depth of field effects and vignetting, but while the image is being composed the lens is generally opened to its widest setting to aid in focusing.

The ground glass and frame assembly, known as the spring back, is held in place by springs that pull and hold the ground glass firmly into the plane of focus during the focusing and composition process. Once the focusing process is complete, the same springs act as a flexible clamping mechanism to press the film holder into the same plane of focus the ground glass occupied. To take the photograph the ground glass is pulled back and the film holder is slid into its place.

The shutter is then closed and cocked, the shutter speed and aperture set, and the darkslide of the film holder removed, revealing the sheet of film. The shutter is then triggered, the exposure made, and the darkslide replaced into the film holder.

Sheet film holders are generally interchangeable between the various brands and models of view camera, in the most common formats, adhering to a set of standards. The largest cameras and more uncommon formats are less standardized.

There are special film holders and accessories that fit in place of a standard film holder, such as Grafmatic, which could fit six sheets of film in the space of an ordinary two-sheet holder, and some light meters have an attachment that inserts into the film holder slot on the camera back that allows the photographer to measure light falling at a specific point on the film plane. The entire film holder/back assembly is often an industry standard Graflex back, removable so accessories like roll-film holders and digital imagers can be used without altering focus.