Advantages The ability to skew the plane of critical focus: In a camera without movements the film plane is always parallel to the lens plane. A camera with tilts and swings lets the photographer skew the plane of focus away from the parallel in any direction, which in many cases can bring the image of a subject that is not parallel to the lens plane into near-to-far focus without stopping down the aperture excessively. Both standards can be tilted through the horizontal or swung through the vertical axes to change the plane of focus. Tilts and swings of the front standard alone do not alter or distort shapes or converging lines in the image; tilts and swings of the rear standard do affect these things, as well as the plane of focus: if the plane of focus must be skewed without altering shapes in the image, front movements alone must be used. The Scheimpflug principle explains the relationship between lens tilts and swings, and the plane of sharp focus. The ability to distort the shape of the image by skewing the film plane: This is most often to reduce or eliminate, or deliberately exaggerate, convergence of lines that are parallel in the subject. If a camera with parallel film and lens planes is pointed at an angle to a plane subject with parallel lines, the lines appear to converge in the image, becoming closer to each other the further away from the camera they are. With a view camera the rear standard can be swung toward the wall to reduce this convergence. If the standard is parallel to the wall, convergence is eliminated. Moving the rear standard this way skews the plane of focus, which can be corrected with a front swing in the same direction as the rear swing. Improved image quality for a print of a given size: The larger a piece of film is, the less detail is lost at a given print size because the larger film requires less enlargement for the same size print. In other words, the same scene photographed on a large-format camera provides a better-quality image and allows greater enlargement than the same image in a smaller format. Additionally, the larger a piece of film is, the more subtle and varied the tonal palette and gradations are at a given print size. A large film size also allows same-size contact printing. Shallow depth of field: view cameras require longer focal length lenses than smaller format cameras, especially for the larger sizes, with shallower depth of field, letting the photographer focus solely on the subject. Smaller apertures can be used: much smaller apertures can be used than with smaller format cameras before diffraction becomes significant for a given print size. Low resale value is an advantage for buyers, but not for sellers. A top-of-the-line 8×10 camera that cost $8,000 new can often be bought in excellent condition, with additional accessories, for $1,500.
Advantages The ability to skew the plane of critical focus: In a camera without movements the film plane is always parallel to the lens plane. A camera with tilts and swings lets the photographer skew the plane of focus away from the parallel in any direction, which in many cases can bring the image of a subject that is not parallel to the lens plane into near-to-far focus without stopping down the aperture excessively. Both standards can be tilted through the horizontal or swung through the vertical axes to change the plane of focus. Tilts: and swings of the front standard alone do not alter or distort shapes or converging lines in the image; tilts and swings of the rear standard do affect these things, as well as the plane of focus: if the plane of focus must be skewed without altering shapes in the image, front movements alone must be used. The Scheimpflug principle explains the relationship between lens tilts and swings, and the plane of sharp focus. The ability to distort the shape of the image by skewing the film plane: This is most often to reduce or eliminate, or deliberately exaggerate convergence of lines that are parallel in the subject. If a camera with parallel film and lens planes is pointed at an angle to a plane subject with parallel lines, the lines appear to converge in the image, becoming closer to each other the further away from the camera they are. With a view camera the rear standard can be swung toward the wall to reduce this convergence. If the standard is parallel to the wall, convergence is eliminated. Moving the rear standard this way skews the plane of focus, which can be corrected with a front swing in the same direction as the rear swing. Improved image quality for a print of a given size: The larger a piece of film is, the less detail is lost at a given print size because the larger film requires less enlargement for the same size print. In other words, the same scene photographed on a large-format camera provides a better-quality image and allows greater enlargement than the same image in a smaller format. Additionally, the larger a piece of film is, the more subtle and varied the tonal palette and gradations are at a given print size. A large film size also allows same-size contact printing. Shallow depth of field view cameras require longer focal ,length lenses than smaller format cameras, especially for the larger sizes, with shallower depth of field, letting the photographer focus solely on the subject. Smaller apertures can be used: much smaller apertures can be used than with smaller format cameras before diffraction becomes significant for a given print size. Low resale value is an advantage for buyers, but not for sellers. A top-of-the-line 8×,10 camera that cost $8,000 new can often be bought in excellent condition, with additional accessories, for $1500.