A field camera is a view camera that can be folded in a compact size. Modern designs are little different from the first folding field cameras from the 19th century. In general they have more limited camera movements than monorail cameras, but when folded are relatively compact and portable.
Modern field cameras originate from the early interlocking box cameras of the 19th century. Rather than the wooden box used in 19th century cameras, modern models substitute bellows to reduce the bulk of the cameras and make them easier to use outside the studio.
Although they have less flexibility than monorail cameras, modern field cameras tend to have most camera movements for the front standard, i.e. lens rise/fall/shift/tilt/swing, but are usually more limited in back movements, sometimes having only tilt/swing.
They usually use sheet film, in sizes from 6x9cm (2.4×3.6") to 20×24 inches (e.g., the Polaroid 20×24 camera), but the most popular "standard" sizes are 4×5 and 8×10 inches. They are usually used by photographers who need the larger negative sizes and the portability.
Famous quotes containing the words field and/or camera:
“Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow!
Through the windows—through doors—burst like a ruthless force,
Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation;
Into the school where the scholar is studying;
Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride;
Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, plough his field or gathering his
grain;
So fierce you whirr and pound, you drums—so shrill you bugles blow.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“The camera is a killing chamber, which speeds up the time it claims to be conserving. Like coffins exhumed and prised open, the photographs put on show what we were and what we will be again.”
—Peter Conrad (b. 1948)