Using the View Camera: A Creative Guide to Large Format Photography

by Steve Simmons

Traces the history of view cameras, discusses lenses, shutters, and accessory equipment, and offers practical advice on working with large format cameras

Genres: Photography

144 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1987

Reviews

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for its size. Basically exposes you to what you need to know to take advantage of the view camera. A larger work could be more comprehensive, but you have to start somewhere. I did notice several numerical typos and so the tyro is cautioned not to take everything in this book as gospel. Good refresher which was my motivation for reading it.

I reduced my rating to four stars because I’ve now read Stroebel’s View Camera Techniques (7 ed). It’s bigger and requires a lot more effort but there are things—critical things—in it that I wouldn’t want to not know when I am shooting.

[Nic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Much of this information can easily be found online but not in such a well organized, consistent and well explained form. Some important things I was just vaguely aware of before made absolutely clear. The book presents a fairly complete overview of important concepts, explains them, but does not go into great depths on either, leaving this for reader's later consideration. Makes a quick and intense read, and the accompanying pictures are good too.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended by Ken Rockwell

[Jedrek Kostecki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great guide on all things view camera. My only problem with it is that it is an entry level book. If you've spent more than a day or two playing around with a VC, a lot of the material will be obvious.

[Jason]

This book is a good primer, so far at least. It's accessible, and not nearly as daunting as I thought. Simmons is definitely giving broad strokes here; this is a technical overview, but not a technical manual.