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View camera operation
In operation a view camera has the photographer open the shutter on the lens to compose and focus the image on a ground glass plate on the rear standard. As the ground glass image is sometimes difficult to view in bright light, the photographer may use a "dark cloth" to cover the rear of the camera to assist in composition. A Fresnel lens is also a great help as this lens considerably brightens the ground glass image (albeit with a slight loss of focusing accuracy), or a high quality loupe may be employed for critical focus on the ground glass. The lens may be stopped down to help gauge depth of field effects and vignetting, but is generally opened to its widest setting to aid in focus.
To take the photograph, the ground glass, held within a metal frame, is displaced using springs and a film holder is inserted. The shutter is then closed and cocked, the shutter speed and aperture set, and the darkslide of the film holder removed, revealing the sheet of film. The shutter is then triggered, the exposure made, and the darkslide replaced into the film holder.
Most sheet film holders are interchangeable between brands and models of view camera, adhering to a single standard. There are special film holders and accessories that fit in place of a standard film holder, such as Grafmatic, which could fit six sheets of film in the space of an ordinary two-sheet holder, and some light meters have an attachment that inserts into the film holder slot on the camera back that allows the photographer to measure light falling at a specific point on the film plane. The entire film holder/back assembly is often an industry standard Graflex back, removable so accessories like roll-film holders and digital imagers can be used without altering focus.

Types of view camera
Generally, view cameras are built for sheet film, one exposure for each sheet. These can be quite large, and are typically standardized to the following large film formats (measurements in inches): 4x5, 5x7, 4x10, 5x12, 8x10, 11x14, 7x17, 8x20, 12x20, 20x24, and 30x40. In Europe and Asia, the long side is often listed first when discussing sheet film size and the associated view camera equipment, albeit in inches rather than a metric measurement, ie. a 5x4 camera is identical to a 4x5 camera. Sometimes the closest equivalent in centimeters is used as well, ie. 9x12 or 12x9 for 4x5.
Far and away the most popular formats are 4x5 and 8x10, with the majority of cameras and lenses designed for one or the other.
Without modifying the camera (but with an inexpensive modification of the darkslide), a photographer can expose a half sheet of film at a time. While this could be useful for saving money, it's almost always instead a means of changing the format so that, for example, a 4x5 camera can take two 2x5 panoramic photos, an 8x10 can take two 4x10s etc. This is popular for landscape imagery, and in the past was common at banquets and similar functions.
There are several varieties of view camera, engineered for different purposes and allowing different degrees of movement and portability. They include:
Monorail Camera - This is the most common type of studio view camera, with the front and rear standards being mounted to a single rail that is fixed to a camera support. This design allows the most movement and flexibility, with both front and rear standards able to tilt, shift, rise, fall and swing in similar proportion. These are generally made of metal with leather or synthetic bellows, and are difficult to pack for travel. Sinar and Toyo are popular manufacturers of monorail view camera systems. ARCA-Swiss produces monorail cameras for field use in addition to models for the more conventional studio applications.
Field Camera - These have the front and rear standard mounted to sliding rails on a flat bed that is fixed to a camera support. These cameras are designed to fold up into a small box for portability, and can be made of wood as well as composites like carbon fiber. The trade off is that the standards are not as mobile or as adjustable as with a monorail design, especially the rear standard, which may even be fixed and offer no movement. Their light weight and ease of packing and set-up are popular with landscape photographers. Extremely large cameras of this type, using 11x14 film and larger, or panoramic film sizes such as 4x10 or 8x20, are sometimes referred to as Banquet Cameras. Such cameras were once used to photograph large, posed groups of people to mark an occasion, such as those attending a banquet. Studio and Salon Cameras are similar in construction, but do not fold up for portability. Wisner and Tachihara are popular examples of modern Field Cameras at either end of the price spectrum.
Press and Technical Cameras - These are very portable, but often have the least amount of usable movement of the three main types of view camera. Originally made for news photographers before roll film became popular, they are designed to fold up, with the lensboard in place, in less than a second. Some are equipped with rangefinders and viewfinders for hand-held work, and some antique models have focal plane shutters. These are typically made of machined and stamped metal, designed for daily use by working newsmen, so they are usually very robust, but also very heavy. The Speed Graphic in its many incarnations was the camera of choice for the American photojournalist in the Golden Age of Hollywood and in the Second World War, and used examples are still popular with photography students. Modern examples of Technical and Press View Cameras are still in production by Horseman, Wista and Linhof.

View camera movements
Basic View Camera TerminologyPhotographers use view cameras to control focus and convergence of parallel lines. Image control is done by moving the front and/or rear standards. Movements are the ways the front and rear standards can be positioned to alter perspective and focus. The term can also refer to the mechanisms on the standards that allow the position to be achieved.
Not all cameras have all movements available to both the front and rear standards, and some cameras have more movements available than others. In addition, some cameras are designed with mechanisms that make intricate movement combinations easier for the photographer to accomplish.

Rise and Fall
Front Standard RiseRise and fall are the movements of either the front or rear standard vertically along a line in a plane parallel to the film plane. Rise is a very important movement especially in architectural photography. Generally, the lens is moved vertically—either up or down—along the lens plane in order to change the portion of the image that will be captured on the film.

The main effect of rise is to eliminate the optical illusion that tall buildings are “falling over backwards.” One way to get the image of a tall building to appear on the film is to point the camera upwards. This causes the top of the building to be optically further away that the bottom of the building. Objects further away tend to appear smaller than do objects that are near by. This phenomenon is called convergence. If we assume the two sides of the building are parallel to each other, then, like railroad tracks, the sides of the building will converge at the top. This effect is captured on film to give the appearance that the top of the building is smaller than the bottom of the building. The building will appear on film as though it were tipping over backwards.

To correct for the convergence of parallel lines, the film plane must be kept parallel to the face of the building. This usually means the film plane is vertical. Unless the camera has a wide angle lens attached, some of the building will not be captured on film. Of course, the use of a wide angle lens is one way to keep the film plane vertical and still capture the entire height of the building but a lot of foreground will also be captured. Another method, the one available on large format camera’s, is to raise the lens. Generally, the lens produces a larger image circle than the film can record. This is especially true of most large format lenses. By moving the lens up, the image is effectively moved down such that the top of the building can be captured on the film. In Figure a) below, the lens is in the “normal” position. Notice how much of the image is wasted. In Figure b), the lens has been shifted up. The top of the building, at the sacrifice of the green ground, is now inside the area captured on film.

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