Is what you see - what you get?

Krosya

Krosya

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Since TLRs have 2 lenses - viewing and taking, I was wondering about the following.
When they (manifacturers) made TLRs how well (if at all) was the viewing lens calibrated to the Taking lens - IMAGEwise. I understand that they have to match in focal length and actual collimating of the two lenses needs to match.
But I wonder how does the Image that you see on the ground glass from the Viewing lens match/compare the one you get on film? You know, to get similar view as you would with an SLR, - actual lens's drawing when you view the scene.?
Is the sharpness, drawing of the lens the same or similar at all? Or how about Bokeh? I realize that it could possibly just match (if it does) when wide open - which makes me wonder why they didnt put a diafragm on a viewing lens to sort of check/preview Bokeh/DOF.
Or did they just put two lenses on, collimate them to make sure they focus correct, but never bothered aboutt he look/drawing of each being similar/different?
Any thoughts on this?
 
Ok, the 2 lenses are out of parallax; so it is a bit as with a Leica/rangefinder camera: the actual pic is taken a bit lower in perspective. Some TLRs have moving masks in their top screen that respond to the turn of the focus wheel, but the main problem is that they are not SLRs or life view digital through the taking lens cameras.

A small problem that is. Furthermore, the viewing lens is always fully open and is generally a bit cheaper in make. The bokeh will depend on the bottom/taking lens and the chosen aperture. But TLR photography takes more conscious photography for granted and in due time (50 films +/- ) if you are still with your TLR, you will intuitively know what aperture creates what DOF, what bokeh, etc. You will learn or give up, simply said.
 
A transilluminated 6x6cm image is never gping to give you that much idea of what the final (reflected-light) print will look like. I believe there have been accessory diaphragms for the upper lens but the image soon gets too dark to see.

Parallax has been compensated via sliding masks in the upper camera; tilting the whole of the upper camera; and physically winding the whole TLR up so that the lower lens has the same pov as the upper lens (Paramender).

Cheers,

R.
 
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Unless you shoot with an SLR (or DSLR) you will never have full WYSIWYG. Even then you have not 100% coverage all the time. That's the main reason SLRs were invented and the main reason they were (are) so successful.

But with digital image processing I don't find this all that important anymore. Cropping is easier then ever...
 
well... if you taking lens and the viewing lens are at the same aperture you get a reasonable DOF preview.

🙂
 
Sometimes, like with the Rolleiflex, the viewing lens has a bigger aperture then the taking lens so even at full opening the 2 images would not show the same DOF. As i understood Rollei sold one time a separate diaphragma (called Rolleiphot) which you could place in front of the viewing lens to overcome this problem.
 
archeophoto said:
Unless you shoot with an SLR (or DSLR) you will never have full WYSIWYG. Even then you have not 100% coverage all the time. That's the main reason SLRs were invented and the main reason they were (are) so successful.

But with digital image processing I don't find this all that important anymore. Cropping is easier then ever...
Click to expand...

Or a real camera with a ground-glass...

Cheers,.

R.
 
My old copy of "collecting and using classic cameras" by Ivor Mantale also mentions the OOF qualities of older European lenses. But I still don't see why the Bokeh Cult seems near to taking over the asylum.

If some sort of depth-of-field/"drawing"/"bokeh" preview is what you seek, look elsewhere. A TLR is not what you want.

If you want a quiet, simple 6x6 camera compared to an SLR, with no mirror blackout, and parallax isn't a critical issue for you (or you don't mind using a paramender with your Mamiya when it is critical), check out a TLR.
 
AgentX said:
If you want a quiet, simple 6x6 camera compared to an SLR, with no mirror blackout, and parallax isn't a critical issue for you (or you don't mind using a paramender with your Mamiya when it is critical), check out a TLR.
Click to expand...


Yes, there's a bit of parallax. So you have to think about what you're doing. Being forced to think about what I'm doing is one of the main reasons I use a TLR.
 
Krosya said:
... which makes me wonder why they didnt put a diafragm on a viewing lens to sort of check/preview Bokeh/DOF....
Click to expand...

Mamiya made one lens (the 105 DS) for the C series that did have DOF preview on the viewing lens. I thought it not worthwhile since if you stop down, the GG goes dark of course; if you take the trouble to use the preview aperture, that's an extra step slowing your workflow; the 105 is a focal length not sufficiently different to the 80 and 135 for me to "need" it; and finally, the one copy of this that I encountered about three years ago in a shop was marked at something like USD 400!
--Dave
 
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