ABSTRACT
View cameras provide flexibility for using lenses that vary in focal length over a wide range and for focusing on objects over a wide range of distances, which enable the photographer to exercise considerable control over image size, angle of view, and linear perspective. This chapter examines the versatility and limitations of the view camera with respect to distant objects, nearby objects, and multiple objects at different distances. It discusses image size, angle of view, and linear perspective in greater detail. Stopping the lens down minimizes loss of definition due to lens aberrations but increases the loss of definition attributable to diffraction, and the aperture that produces optimum definition changes with the scale of reproduction. The closeup photograph, photomacrograph, and photomicrograph have become established as categories of photographs representing different scales of reproduction, with the scale increasing in the order listed.
