Product Description
CAMERA TECHNIQUE
for Professional Photographers
The camera technique of a professional photographer is dependent considerably on the lens used. Therefore, the choice of a really fine lens is perhaps the most important decision with respect to equipment that a photographer is called upon to make. His future photography rests not only on the quality of the lens itself, but also on the suitability of the lens for the tasks it is to perform. The drawing and perspective of the image formed by a lens depend upon the point of view—the lens-to-subject distance—not on the lens. Yet, the area of the scene covered and the size of the image are functions of the lens, and these, in turn, often are the factors which determine Where the camera is placed. The covering power and the focal length of lenses therefore regulate their suitability for a given purpose.
In addition to these factors governing the choice of a lens, there are the limitations imposed by the bellows draw of the camera and the desired swings and other camera adjustments the photographer may wish to impose on the camera image. Thus it is that the choice of a lens and the problem of camera swings are interdependent.
This is the material covered by the following pages in this Kodak Professional Data Book. The information on choosing lenses will be helpful as a guide to either the purchase of a new lens or the use of a lens in a specific photographic situation.
The related section on view-camera adjustments is presented in the hope that it will help to straighten out much of the misunderstanding of the purpose and practical application of these adjustments. In particular, it should help new professional photographers to proceed in a methodical manner in setting up a view camera so that the focus, depth of field, and perspective will give the quality of results desired.
Incidentally, high image quality is not an intangible entity that must be taken on faith alone. It is something that the eye can see. The Kodak lenses discussed in these pages are presented with pride, and in the secure knowledge that here are the finest lenses we know how to make—lenses that meet the requirements of the most discriminating professional photographers.
