Talk:Antique Camera Simulator

Construct validity?

This isn't a trade name or similar. Therefore if the title is more or less sound, then "antique camera simulator" (though its first capital is of course automated by the software).

But how is an "antique camera" being "simulated" here? The examples I see are more straightforward: old lenses on new (and often digital) cameras. Why not "Use of old lenses", or similar? -- Hoarier 15:41, 8 May 2011 (PDT)

Some of the old brass lenses are reportedly extremely sharp in the image center. Thus some good old large format lenses can give sharp images on frame sizes between Four Thirds and 24x36mm. You can work with these beasts, that's tested. The antique camera simulation becomes perfect when You have mounted an old lens together with old leaf shutter onto the apparatus, and the apparatus onto a tripod so that You can operate it better: shooting B with the focal plane shutter and additionally triggering the leaf shutter in instant mode or set speed.

You can also achieve disadvantages of old lenses. I had problems with achieving images from an old Zeiss Anastigmat. The resolution of that lens seems to be bad for small formats - maybe a lens type w/o that extreme sharpness in the middle, or the glass is no more in perfect order.

Conclusion: The simulation is limited to the sharp center of the lense's image plane. You're the lucky one if You can get out the cream of the crop.

Benefit of simulation: If You want to use your lens on an old Large format camera, You need not test it with dozens of expensive film sheets. You can check the lens on a simulator to see wether it's one of the good ones which delivers an extra-sharp image center as You need it for old style portraiture. So the construct is valid, even if the apparatuses shown on the page may be used for plain photography instead of simulations.U. Kulick 17:12, 8 May 2011 (PDT)

But my question was not "Is it a good idea to use old lenses on new cameras?"; it was instead "Is this about something other than old lenses on new cameras?"

You say above "you can check the lens on a simulator", and I wonder again whether I have misread the article and haven't noticed reference within it to (for example) some website that provides a simulation of what you get with a certain combination of lens, aperture, and sensor. I reread the article, and find within it: An alternate approach to nostalgic photographing can be the Antique camera simulator. That's a construction based on a modern type SLR and an old type lens or lens/shutter unit. So again, this seems to be about nothing other than the combination of a modern body (incidentally, not only a SLR) and an old lens (with or without an old shutter). What am I missing? -- Hoarier 21:34, 8 May 2011 (PDT)

What You miss is understanding. You read elsewhere about the magic quality of some old lens types and get nostalgic about the thought: oh, they had sharp lenses already in 1841! That makes curious, and the results of such curiosity can be seen in the images of this article. Try it yourself. Have fun with cameras, and don't mock about others who already have that fun. I explained in my answer to You that the term "antique camera simulator" can be seen as adequate "valid construct", even if most users don't use this "camera type" for simulations, i.e. lens tests needing a low-cost simulator before shooting large format with the risk of not getting expected results while loosing some expensive film sheets.U. Kulick 01:27, 9 May 2011 (PDT)

I'm going to agree that this article is confusing as it stands. Testing a large-format or medium-format lens on a 35mm or APSC camera may be interesting; but considering the much smaller image format, it does not "simulate an antique camera." So I must agree that the page title is misleading (apart from the unnecessary captitals). Another issue is that this seems to be a "how-to" article. It is possible we will want to increase that type of content, but there should be some discussion first. It would quickly become unwieldy if any contributor felt they could randomly add new technique descriptions. --Vox 16:25, 24 March 2012 (PDT)

Another vote for a title change. I just saw the page title in the recent changes log and came here expecting to see some software or hardware that literally "simulated antique cameras" - so I was a bit confused to see that it was an article about using old lenses and lens/shutter combos on modern cameras. I actually do this quite often myself. I've collected an assortment of adapters and converters that allow me to mount all sorts of crazy thing on my Canon 40D DSLR. But I think of it as "adapting an old lens to a new camera". I do take U.'s point that one use of adapting old lenses to digital cameras might be to "simulate" or "debug" optical problems encountered with the lens, but I think that's not the reason most people consider mounting old lenses on new cameras. Interestingly, I'd been pondering an article along these lines to go along with the lens mount page, sort of a table of mount adapters that exist for what camera to what lens, along with some example photos and description. How about a title like "Adapting Vintage Gear to Modern Cameras" ? Steevithak 19:14, 24 March 2012 (PDT)