A couple o large format questions

[Jarvman]

I used my chamonix for the first time today and tray processed my first two sheets of FP4. I took a picture of Dave, the guy who's teaching me picture framing with a 150mm lens. The camera was set to f/11 at 1/2 a second and I thought it was focused on him, but apparently I misjudged it and the plane of focus was slightly behind him. The camera was pretty close, perhaps 4 meters or so away. I was expecting much more dof for f/11. Is there any way I can increase it at these relatively short distances? I used a bit of rise and a left shift but apart from that the standards were square on. Also, any tips on where to dry films short of buying a drying cabinet. Cheers

[Shangheye]

At those kind of distances you will have to consider forward or backward tilt of the front standard, but that is a skill in itself, and the dof will still be tight (and selective). With 150mm you are OK for 3/4 type portraits. Close up will give distortion and will be made worse by the tilt. Look up Scheipflug and Hinge rules on google to understand tilt. Rgds, Kal

[Jarvman]

It was a 3/4 length with all of his tools behind him. Should've used faster film and stopped down more really.

[Trevor Crone]

If you've not already done so get a good quality focusing lupe. Vital piece of kit IMO for critical focusing.

[Shangheye]

If you are looking for that kind of DOF then faster film, a focusing loupe, but also so use of rules of thumb for f number are also essential. You can find alot of advice on the latter at largeformatphotography.info/fstop.html K

[mjs]

Now you know why LF lenses go to f/32... f/64... f/90. Diffraction effects aside, sometimes you just need it!

Remember too that when focusing closer than "infinity" for your lens, depth of field at any f/ stop will be less than you would expect if focusing at infinity. The above advice for a loupe is the solution: examine the image on the ground glass closely to ensure that the plane of acceptable focus includes the important parts of the image which you want to be in focus. Yes, this can make portraiture a challenge! It can be difficult to do this in less than perfect light, i.e. indoors and worse if your lens only opens to f/8 or f/11. It is also more difficult with wider than normal lenses (and really tough to detect light fall-off at the edges of the film, with wide angle lenses or lenses which barely cover your format.)

In other words, there's lots of opportunity to improve by experience! Welcome to the club!

Mike

[Jarvman]

What's a good loupe then?

[Trevor Crone]

What's a good loupe then?

If you've got the cash I would go with one from Schneider or Rodenstock.

[Jim Noel]

Any 4x-8x loupe will suffice. I have two Rodenstocks and a little $10 no name one a student gave me. I use the cheap one more often than the expensive ones.
Jim

[Andrew Sanderson]

It could be that your subject moved forward slightly between focussing and shooting? it may not be your fault as regards D.O.F.