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Actar, Cambo Actus, Cambo DSLR, Guest Post, Review

Lee Varis: Testing the Ultimate Technical Camera – Part 2

Words and Photos by Lee Varis of Varis Photomedia

This 2nd part of my examination of the Cambo Actus GFX system focuses (literally) on the lens tilting functionality. The tilting lens stage allows the photographer to alter the plane of focus, usually to match the plane of focus with the subject, to achieve better depth of focus with near-to-far subjects, or with macro focus situations.

The Cambo Actus technical camera system allows the front lens stage to tilt, altering the plane of focus to match the subject.

This lens tilt takes advantage of the Scheimpflug principle, a geometric rule that describes the orientation of the plane of focus of an optical system (such as a camera) when the lens plane is not parallel to the image plane.

Tilting the lens such that the desired plane of focus intersects the plane of the lens, and the image plane at one point, known as the Scheimflug intersection, is the core function of the Scheimpflug principle.

Arranging the lens tilt so that the desired plane of focus intersects with the image plane, and the lens plane, at the same point, allows for enhanced focus along that focus plane without resorting to extra small ƒ-stops, and in most cases achieves sharper focus in the desired area. The following image illustrates how this works in practice. The first image has the lens plane parallel to the camera back, and the result is a limited depth of field that is particularly troublesome for near-to-far subjects…

Here the back of the camera and the lens plane are parallel in a normal orientation—the focus is on the guitar pick which is very close to the lens—the focus falls off into the distance.

The second image has the lens tilted forward so that the lens plane intersects the plane of the face of the guitar, and the back of the camera—the result is an illusion of infinite focus or extended depth of field, even at a wide open ƒ-stop…

Here the lens has been tilted forward enough that the plane of focus matches the face of the guitar, and we have perfect focus along the whole length of the guitar, near-to-far.

The beauty of the medium format, mirrorless FUJIFILM GFX is that focus peaking in the electronic viewfinder makes the chore of determining the best angle for the lens easy—just tilt the lens until the red highlights show up along the edges in the image!

Besides the obvious application here in the still life above, subtle lens tilts can work wonders in ultra-close-up macro photography. This is something the Cambo Actus system excels at…

The Cambo Actus GFX with the 90mm Actar lens is ideal for extreme macro work. Small lens tilts can greatly enhance the apparent depth of focus at closer than 1:1 magnification distances.

Here the lens has been tilted to place the focus across the plane of the flower center. Closing down the ƒ-stop just a bit extends the depth enough that all of the petals are also tack sharp!

There is nothing quite so luxurious as a view camera for macro photography, and the Cambo Actus GFX is a joy to use with extremely precise geared focus movements along the extended rail—the focus peaking of the FUJIFILM GFX is fantastic for nailing the focus.

The Scheimpflug principle also has application in landscape photography…

Here I’m setting up a shot with foreground rocks leading up to the lighthouse—an extreme near-to-far composition.

The foreground rocks are only 24 inches from the front of the lens with the light house over one hundred feet away.

There is no way to achieve this level of depth of focus in a single capture without the use of a tilting lens stage.

While it is possible to capture several shots with differing focus depths, and merge them using focus stacking, the look of the Scheimpflug capture achieves a subtle “standing in the scene” kind of feel that just works better for this type of image!

Here is a short video showing another shot from the same day of shooting…

 

The Cambo Actus with the FUJIFILM GFX is truly the ultimate technical camera for demanding photography in architecture, still life, and landscape applications. While the system is not cheap… roughly $2,795.00 for the Cambo Actus, another $1000 – 1700 or so for a large coverage view camera prime lens, and you’d still need to purchase the FUJIFILM GFX body ($6499.95 from B&H) , if you are looking for the ultimate technical system, this is it!

I was able to borrow the system for a only a week, and had limited time to work with it, but I really enjoyed working with the system. This camera inspired many ideas for photographs that I would like to pursue at some point in the near future. In the meantime, here is a gallery of images from my testing—click on the thumbnails below to see larger images! You can find out more about the Cambo Actus system of cameras, available with adapters for Canon, Nikon, Sony, and Fuji-X, from their website here: https://www.cambo.com/en/actus-mini/cambo-actus-mini-view-camera/





Words and Photos by Lee Varis – Source: Cambo Actus + FUJIFILM GFX

Once again a huge thank you to Lee for his very in depth review. To purchase a Cambo Actus GFX or any of the many other Cambo products, please visit Cambousa.com/dealers to find the Cambo dealer nearest you.!

 

July 10, 2017by CamboUSA
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Actar, Cambo Actus, Cambo DSLR, Guest Post, Review

Lee Varis: Testing the Ultimate Technical Camera – Part 1

Words and Photos by Lee Varis of Varis Photomedia

I recently had the opportunity to test the Cambo Actus technical camera with the FUJIFILM GFX—this was very exciting for me because I could renew my experience with view cameras in a new digital configuration! The Cambo Actus is essentially a view camera front end to just about any digital camera that gives the serious photographer the ability to use full lens tilt & shift with back shift.

The Cambo Actus consists of a front lens board with tilt/shift on a rail system with a bag bellows that connects the front lens to the back board using a clever magnetic attachment.

The Cambo Actus system uses large image circle view camera or enlarger lenses connected to a digital camera body through a bag bellows and a body adapter back standard. Basically replacing a view camera film holder with a digital camera body. I had the system set up for the amazing FUJIFILM GFX, a medium format 50 megapixel camera, and had an Actor 24mm & 90mm lens to test the full tilt/shift capabilities of the system.

The shifting function of this type of camera system is primarily used in architectural photography to control perspective convergence. This was how we had to work before the days of Photoshop and Lightroom lens corrections. The idea is to keep the camera back perfectly vertical and use the shifting back to get the top of a building in the shot. A carpenter’s bubble level is very useful to square up the camera…

Here is a short video where I show the process with the Cambo Actus and FUJIFILM GFX…

I was using the Actar 24mm with is fairly wide angle for the GFX medium format camera.

Here you can see the perspective convergence in the building behind me. It was actually much more severe in the un shifted GFX shot—it makes the building look like its leaning backward!

Sometimes when the image is perfectly corrected with all the lines parallel, it can look a little off, like its over corrected. You might have to deliberately under-correct (allow for slight convergence)  to make it look right…

The shape of this building still looks a little strange, even though it is technically correct.

The shifting back of the Cambo Actus is also extremely helpful when stitching multiple shots together to get undistorted wide angle shots! I took advantage of the horizontal shift to capture a shot of the Ames Free Library in Easton Massachusetts when the best vantage point for the building was too close to show enough of the scene.

Instead of panning the camera, I shifted the back left to right to get 3 shots of the scene.

Shifting the back of the Cambo Actus allows for perfect alignment with the building, so all the lines are parallel, and multiple shots blend together seamlessly with no effort. The image below shows the individual shots shifted to the extremes of the extra large image circle…

This sequence shows the extreme shift inside the image circle of the lens!

The result after merging in Lightroom/Photoshop…

I added a better sky into the merged scene in Photoshop, but the panorama merge was done in Lightroom.

The Cambo Actus system is definitely the big boy way to shoot architecture, but the camera has many other applications that take advantage of a tilting lens! Stay tuned for part two of my exploration of the Cambo Actus GFX where I look at achieving infinite depth of field effects with a tilting lens!

Words and Photos by Lee Varis – Source: Cambo Actus & FUJIFILM GFX

Please take the time to visit Lee’s website varis.com for more great reviews, tutorials, and stellar images.

Thank you Lee for taking the time to test and share the Actus GFX. For more information or to purchase one of your own please visit Cambousa.com/dealers to find the dealer nearest you.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Lee’s review coming soon!

July 7, 2017by CamboUSA
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Actar, Cambo Actus, Cambo DSLR, Cambo Studio, Cambo Wide RS, Dealer, MBX Studio Stand, News, Uncategorized, Video Products

Cambo Products Now Available at Samy’s Camera & Samy’s Cinema Works.

We are very excited to announce that Cambo products are now available for purchase at Samy’s Camera and Samy’s Cinema Works locations.

A big welcome from all of us at Cambo USA to everyone who is a part of the Samy’s team!

For more information or to place your order contact your Samy’s salesperson or Cambo USA.

Burbank

148 S Victory Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91502
(818)-562-1960
www.samyscinemaworks.com

(Video Products)
(Video Products)

Culver City

Los Angeles

4411 Sepulveda Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90230
310-450-4551
www.samys.com
431 S. Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323-938-2420
www.samys.com

Pasadena

San Francisco

1759 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91106
626-796-3300
www.samys.com
1090 Bryant Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-621-8400
www.samys.com

Santa Ana

Santa Barbara

3309b S. Bristol St.
Santa Ana, CA 92704
714-557-9400
www.samys.com
530 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(805)963-7269
www.samys.com
June 15, 2017by CamboUSA
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“Cambo BV was founded in The Netherlands in 1946 and has the distinction of being the first studio camera manufacturer to produce an all-metal large format camera. Based in the town of Kampen in the East of the Netherlands, Cambo has since built a reputation for high quality, precision engineered cameras, stands and other studio equipment.”

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