Cameras of Large Magazines

[jamesino]

What type of setup do large magazine corporations, such as Maxim, Playboy and Cosmopolitan use for their magazine covers and centerfolds?

Do they use digital medium-format cameras?

 

[Village Idiot]

What type of setup do large magazine corporations, such as Maxim, Playboy and Cosmopolitan use for their magazine covers and centerfolds?

Do they use digital medium-format cameras?

It depends on the photographer. I've seen Vogue photographers shoot with 40MP Hassleblads that cost almost half of what I make in a year and I've seen Playboy photographers shoot with Canon 5D's and enough studio lights to blind half of the US in one pop.

 

[deudeu]

Professionals print at 300 ppi (300 pixels per inch). So, with a 10MP camera which has a sensor of about 3900x2600 you can print professional looking pictures up to 13x8.5 inches.
So you can't really make it to the double page of the playboy but a regular page is no problem.

 

[Mystwalker]

Professionals print at 300 ppi (300 pixels per inch). So, with a 10MP camera which has a sensor of about 3900x2600 you can print professional looking pictures up to 13x8.5 inches.
So you can't really make it to the double page of the playboy but a regular page is no problem.

Would not want a "noisy" centerfold - NO NO NO!!!

So ... before recent 12MP DSLRs, most pros used film?

 

[Bifurcator]

Almost all of the portrait studios I've been in are MF Digital regardless of what the ultimate output format was/is. If fact I rarely even see a 35mm digital camera around.

I think with models like the 24mp Canon, the D700, and the D3 though that there's virtually no difference. I think we can interpolate 3x or 4x enlargements prior to the print-ready file submissions and the differences cannot be detected.

 

[deudeu]

Almost all of the portrait studios I've been in are MF Digital regardless of what the ultimate output format was/is. If fact I rarely even see a 35mm digital camera around.

I think with models like the 24mp Canon, the D700, and the D3 though that there's virtually no difference. I think we can interpolate 3x or 4x enlargements prior to the print-ready file submissions and the differences cannot be detected.

The D700 is "only" 12 something MP... there is a big difference with a 30+ MP Medium Format! (even the pixel density is more than three times smaller on a MF digital than it is on a FF nikon)
This being said, I don't think that it would show on most print, but on a centerfold... It probably would.

 

[epatsellis]

There are still quite a few magazines that require LF transparencies for full page and double truck layouts, Arizona Byways (I think that's the name) will only accept 4x5 or 8x10 transparencies for full page, with the preference to 8x10.

 

[Alpha]

Cameras generally start at 1dsIII but I've seen some shoot with less. Digital MF is far more prevalent. Phase One, Leaf, and Imacon are the big players in the digital MF market. In spite of many bad reviews of Imacon backs, they're relatively prevalent because they're packaged with the Hasselblad H series, which has an extremely high sync speed, though the other two are the preferred backs for people shooting with other systems. That said, 8x10 Kodak Portra NC and Fuji Astia are the preferred films for those who shoot LF.

 

[Joves]

There are still quite a few magazines that require LF transparencies for full page and double truck layouts, Arizona Byways (I think that's the name) will only accept 4x5 or 8x10 transparencies for full page, with the preference to 8x10.

Yeah Arizona Highways will only accept those for consideration.

 

[ksmattfish]

The Arizona Highways submission rules mentioned above were from 4 or 5 years ago, and have more to do with being an old magazine using old publishing technology, and being soundly set in their ways, than quality issues. If you look at their photography submission page today while they still emphasize a preference for 4x5, they are now accepting 35mm film and digital submissions. At the level the technology is today pros and serious enthusiasts are able to create very high quality prints up to 20"x30" from small format digital cameras.