View Camera Focus and Depth of Field — Part I

As submitted to VIEW CAMERA

by Harold M. Merklinger magazine, published July/August 1996,
pp 55-57.
The craft of photography combines lens was not pointing straight down. The Second Law of the View Camera
technology, skill and opportunity in the Through such rectification he was able
creation of gratifying images. Of the to produce accurate maps. The second law is much like the
factors cited, in-depth understanding of Scheimpflug’s invention acknowledged first. It describes three planes that must
camera technology is probably the least a similar but earlier camera-like intersect along a single line. In this case,
important. One can produce wonderful rectification apparatus patented by the one of the planes is the same as before:
results with minimal knowledge of how Frenchman, Jules Carpentier in 1901. the subject plane. The new second plane
it all works. There are, nevertheless, Based on experiment, Carpentier is one through the center of the lens but
certain principles that can assist the coordinated the tilting movements of parallel to the film. I call this plane the
photographer in doing his job the subject plane and film plane in parallel-to-film lens plane, or PTF
efficiently. The aim of this two-part order to keep the image in focus. plane, for short. The third plane is one
article is to explain the basic principles Theodor Scheimpflug took parallel to the usual lens plane but one
of view camera focus and depth of field. Carpentier’s observations an additional focal length in front of it. A second
It does help to understand what one is step by proving that in order to achieve sketch illustrates.
doing. perfect focus, it was necessary that the The second law, all on its own, tells
Among the many advantages of the subject plane, the film plane and the us how much lens tilt we need for any
view camera is the ability to control lens plane intersect along one common given situation. The distance from the
focus in ways impossible with normal line. The lens plane is, of course, that lens to where the PTF plane and the
cameras. I use the term “normal” to plane surface passing through the subject plane intersect is the only factor
convey two quite independent and yet center of the lens, perpendicular to the determining how much lens tilt we
relevant ideas. On one hand I mean the lens axis. The plane of the lens board is need.
kind of camera one encounters most a useful substitute for the lens plane. I call the second law “the hinge
frequently. Also, the majority of An accompanying sketch illustrates rule”; a few examples will explain why.
cameras have the lens axis carefully Scheimpflug’s principle. Note that in The hinge rule gives us a ‘bench
aligned “normal” to the film: that is, the the situation depicted, the intended mark’ (the hinge line) through which
lens axis is perpendicular to the film. subject plane may lie at any angle to the plane of sharp focus will pass. For
Such an alignment of lens and film the ground and still obey the principle. sharp focus, the hinge line must be on
causes the camera to be focused on a The fact that this plane passes through the subject plane.
subject plane that is parallel to the film. the Scheimpflug Line is not enough The position of the camera back,
The view camera is expressly designed ensure focus, however. The camera will through the Scheimpflug Principle, then
to let the lens and film alignment be be focused on a plane passing through sets the angle at which the plane of
adjusted outside of this “normal” the Scheimpflug Line, but that plane of sharp focus will pass through the hinge
condition. sharp focus could be at a different line. Moving the back to and fro causes
angle relative to the ground. The the plane upon which the camera is
The First Law of the View Camera photographer’s job is to make the two focused to rotate about the hinge line.
planes coincide, as shown. This is probably not something you
Many readers will be familiar with Scheimpflug’s principle alone is not have been taught, but it is,
what has come to be known as the always very useful. There are an nevertheless, a direct consequence of
Scheimpflug Principle. Captain Theodor infinite number of ways to adjust the these two laws of the view camera.
Scheimpflug, an Austrian Army Officer, focus of a camera, each way obeying
described in 1904 the operation of a the Scheimpflug Principle but still not
device for “rectifying” the geometric achieving the desired focus. Examples
distortion present in aerial photographs Fortunately, there is a second law.
taken (from a balloon) when the camera We used a Sinar F camera fitted

The First Law of the view

1st LAW PARALLEL-to-FILM 2nd LAW camera—the Scheimpflug
FILM LENS PLANE
PLANE LENS PLANE
Principle—requires that the Film
FRONT FOCAL
PLANE Plane, the Lens Plane and the
Subject Plane must intersect
f
along a single line. In this side
r
view the line is seen as a dot.
or E o
NE US LAN OCUS
T PLA P FOC T P F A Second Law—the Hinge
J E C A R JEC ARP
SUB OF S
H J SUB OF SH Rule—requires a plane through
NE E
P L A
PLAN the lens parallel to the film, a
plane parallel to the lens plane
HINGE LINE but one focal length in front of it,
SCHEIMPFLUG LINE and the Subject Plane must also
intersect along a single line.

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with a 150 mm Schneider Symmar-S. hinge, I call “J”. For a 150 mm lens lens (viewed from behind the camera),
The camera back was initially adjusted there is a unique amount of lens tilt we would have swung the lens to the
to be perfectly vertical. Our subject, required for any particular value of J. right. In this case the survey rod would
Lisa, is holding a long ruler—a folding For values of J not explicitly shown in need to have rotated from right to left
surveyor’s rod, actually. the table, we can estimate in-between as the lens-to-film distance was
The first two of our four examples values. In this case J was 4.2 feet, and increased.
show Lisa holding the survey rod at two so the tilt angle was, near enough, 7˚. One last example to show a
different angles relative to the floor. The Let’s look at another example. For not-so-usual set-up. We tilted the
survey rod was hinged at a point 4.2 feet Example 3, we increased the lens tilt to camera back forward 30˚, and the lens
directly below the camera lens. The left 14˚. Using the table, we see that the was tilted forward at 26˚. The effective
portions of the photo pairs show you a distance J must now be just over 2 feet. lens tilt relative to the back is 4˚
side view of the set-up. The right We raised the survey rod to bring the upwards in this case. This gave us a
portions of the pairs show the photos hinge about two feet below the camera distance J of 7 feet, but it’s seven feet
taken with the view camera. lens, and, there we have it. Notice how measured up and forward of the camera
You can see that the markings on the we can even achieve focus on a slope at an angle 30˚ off the vertical.
survey rod are sharp from end to end in away from the camera! Example 4 is not a set-up one would
each of the photographs. For both of the Of course I’ve glossed over some use often, but it does, I hope, help to
examples, the same lens tilt was used: of the details. There are not many illustrate the basic rules of view camera
7˚. The only thing we changed was the details, but they are subtle. The focus.
position of the camera back. We didn’t distance J is measured in a very special Whatever happened to our Captain
change the angle of the back; it was way. Although J is the Scheimpflug and his principle? Well,
vertical throughout. We just slid the lens-to-something distance, it is he’s been with us all along. His rule has
back along the monorail to focus, and constrained to be measured in a been followed perfectly—and
adjusted the vertical rise if necessary to direction parallel to the plane of the automatically! You see, Scheimpflug
achieve the desired framing. film. If the back is vertical, J is is always right, no matter what we do
Adjusting the lens-to-film distance measured in a vertical plane. If the with our camera. The plane of sharpest
caused the plane upon which the camera back is tilted 30˚ from the vertical, J focus will always obey Scheimpflug’s
is focused—the plane of sharpest must be measured in a plane tilted 30˚ principle. The photographer’s job is to
focus—to rotate about the position of off the vertical. OK, so J is measured make the plane of sharpest focus
the hinge in the survey rod. in the PTF plane, but that still doesn’t coincide with the natural subject plane
We focused simply by observing the tell us everything. Do we measure up, And doing that calls for application of
ground glass and turning the focusing down, sideways etc.? The lens must the hinge rule.
knob on the back standard until the rod be tilted about an axis that is parallel to Longer lenses need more tilt; short
was in focus. When any part of the rod the intended hinge line, and the front lenses need less for any fixed
was in focus, the whole rod was in of the lens is tilted towards the arrangement of subject plane and film
focus. Increasing the lens-to-film intended hinge line. In the examples plane, but the principle is the same for
separation caused the plane of sharp cited so far, the hinge line was always all. The book Focusing the View
focus to rotate up towards the camera intended to be horizontal, and so we Camera, available through The Book
lens. used simple, classic, lens tilt. The Bin here in ViewCamera magazine,
How did we know what lens tilt to hinge line was below the lens, so we explains in more detail. Included with
use? Well, the hinge rule allows us to tilted the lens forward—the front rim the book is a handy filmholder-sized
prepare a simple table. A table for a 150 of the lens getting a little closer to the card with tilt and J distances for a
mm lens is shown here as a sample. The hinge line. Had the intended hinge line
distance from the camera lens to the been vertical and to the right of the Example 1: The left
photo illustrates a
side view of the
Sinar F and subject
for the result shown
at right. The hinge
line is located 4.2
feet directly below
the lens as
illustrated by the
vertical portion of
the survey rod. The
camera is set to
focus on the angled
portion of the rod. In
this case the rod is
in a moderately low
position and the
camera back is
almost where it
would be for infinity
focus.

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 Example 2: The
survey rod was
raised to a higher
angular position
and the camera
back moved away
from the lens to
focus on the rod in
this new position.
Again the rod is in
focus from end to
end. So long as the
rod remains hinged
at a point 4.2 feet
directly below the
lens, 7˚ of lens tilt is
the amount required
to focus on the rod
at any angular
position.
Distance J LENS TILT
(in feet) f = 150 mm
0.25 (3") n/a
0.5 (6") 79.82°
0.75 (9") 41.01°
1 29.48°
1.25 (15") 23.18°
1.5 (18") 19.15° The Hinge Rule lets us associate a
2 14.24° specific lens tilt angle (measured
2.5 (30") 11.35° relative to the camera back) with a
3 9.44°
4 7.07° specific lens-to-hinge line
5 5.65° distance, J. This table shows the
6 4.70° relationship for a 150 millimeter
7 4.03°
8 3.53° lens. An approximate relationship
9 3.13° is that the tilt angle is about equal
10 2.82° to the focal length (in millimeters)
12 2.35°
15 1.88° divided by five times the distance
20 1.41° J (in feet).
30 0.94°
50 0.56°
75 0.38°
100 0.28°
200 0.14°

Example 3: The
vertical portion of
the rod was raised
to put the hinge just
over 2 feet below
the lens. The
required amount of
lens tilt is now 14˚.
The camera will
again focus on the
whole rod, even
when it is angled
away from the
camera.

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 Example 4 illustrates the hinge rule under quite different
circumstances. 30˚ of back tilt combined with 26˚ of lens
tilt (4˚ relative to the back) put the hinge line 7 feet from
the lens and about 6 feet directly over the subject’s head.
Focusing with the camera back now causes the plane of
sharpest focus to swing from the hinge line like a
pendulum. The result is distorted, but in focus.

variety of common lens focal lengths

from 53 mm to 450 mm. I’ll warn you,
the book is very technical. But if you’ve
understood this article, all you really
need for now is that card.
In Part 2, I’ll address what happens
to depth of field when lenses are tilted.
You have probably noticed a few clues
here in the illustrations for Part 1. It
turns out that the situation is
conceptually simpler than is the case for
‘normal’ cameras! But we do have to
pay attention; it isn’t always clear
what’s the best set-up. This is one place
where a little art and craftsmanship—or
experience—are a definite asset.
I’m grateful for the kind assistance
of Chris Reardon and
Robinson-Campbell and Associates Ltd.
of Halifax, Nova Scotia for production
of the illustrations. And special thanks
to our subject, Lisa. Polaroid Canada
provided the Type P/N 55 film which
permitted on-site verification of results
and a high quality negative for
reproduction. Thank you all.

© Harold M. Merklinger and C.

Reardon, Halifax August 1995.

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