roughwake
Newbie
After literally hours trying to find the minimum focal distance for this beautiful camera and seeing so many picturs of it on infinity with the other more interesting numbers behind some piece of metal, this http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hftGNk8MZ0A shows a japanese guy fiddling with the focuing knob. Freeze framed I'm sure the numbers read infinity, 10, 5, 3, 2, 1.5, 1.2, 1, 0.8. The last (0.8) being a little hard to make out. Past that is the "m" for meters. Also important is that the 0.8 seems to go a little past the tick mark for where the camera is focused. So it seems that this camera will focus to somewhere around .75-.8m. My main concern is getting a tight headshot. On my Rolleiflex 75mm tlr which focouses down to exactly one meter, a head and chest is the best I can do. However, with an 80mm lens that goes to .75ish do you think it would be possible to get one of those pore counting face portraits? Please don't respond with "just buy yourself a so-and-so camera if you want that" or "folders weren't meant for that sort of thing" i want to know if you think it is possible. THANKS
aizan
Veteran
not unless they make a close-up kit. cropping a head and shoulders shot in medium format is the same thing as shooting a tight head shot in 35mm.
and, uh, just buy yourself a pentax 67 or mamiya.
and, uh, just buy yourself a pentax 67 or mamiya.
chippy
foo was here
David, sorry for the confusion...when i said a longer lens is preferable (for portrait) i was refferring to interchangable lens i.e. 150mm ect on a 6x6 hasselblad. a longer lens gives a flatter perspective and narrower feild of view
the minimum focus distance doesnt really depend on the accuracy of rangefinder, per say. for a standard fixed, unit focusing lens, its more to do with how far the lens will extend from the film plane (bellows extenstion). the rangefinder accuracy comes after this. for very close type work on a standard lens or 1:1 work, a triple extension is needed.
although this folder is big enough (demensions in size compared to a 6x9 camera) that it could theorectically incorporate enough bellows extention to handle a 105mm lens. the design most likely (from what we see) only accomidates the standard extension and near focus of about .75m , not close enough for ultra close head shots for pore counting face portraits.
whether someone doesnt want to hear that basic folders aren't designed for that sort of shot is irrelevent if its true, head and shoulder, is about as close as you will get...unless you crop, or use close up lens...for the roleiiflex one of the rolleinar atatchemnts would work...the limitations are that you are only likely to get shots of someone that you are very friendly with,,models (professional or not) or strangers will become uncomfortable with a camera less than a foot or two from their face
David Goldfarb
Well-known
Well, put it this way--On a Linhof Technika, you've got plenty of bellows extension for macro work using the groundglass, even with a lens of portrait length, but the rangefinder base is a constant, so rangefinder cams are ground so that the near focus distance using the rangefinder increases as focal length increases. When you exceed the close focus distance the rangefinder disengages, but you can still focus on the glass. Now at the long end (360mm), this is because there isn't enough room for a longer cam, but with shorter lenses, they could make longer cams for nearer close focus distance, but they don't, because the rangefinder couldn't be counted upon.