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Wide angle lenses

Using WIDE ANGLE lenses

When using a wide angle lens, in addition to the extreme camera adjustments required necessitate a more flexible bellows than the traditional accordion configuration. The short wide-angle bellows, sometimes called a 'bag' bellows allow almost unrestricted camera movements.

A normal bellows is to long and may restrict the use of the cameras' adjustment, as may a normal length rail.

The third modification necessary to create a wide-angle camera is a recessed lens board. This special lensboard is indented 1" - 1.25" from the normal lens board plane. This allows the front and rear standards to be further apart and makes the adjustments easier.

With some cameras like the Toyo the lens boards for the 8x10 and 4x5 are the same and can be interchanged. While this makes it simple to use a 150 mm lens that would be a standard lens on a 4x5 camera the lens does not have enough coverage to illuminate the entire sheet of film and produces a circular image on the 8x10 that falls off both in sharpness and illumination. Some photographers have used this visual technique as an aesthetic part of their work.

Want to learn more? - do a workshop or one on one with Lloyd Godman