Large Format Photography - Where do I Start?

[c.cloudwalker]

Btw, the beauty of film photography is that the body is not doing much more than hold the film and lens together. This is even truer with LF and I have known a few people who built their own LF cameras. Just a thought for those who are good working with their hands.

 

[Vautrin]

If you wantedyou could go with a pinhole

Pinhole camera 4x5 formats Pi

That site's really tempting, some of their shots look quite good... And, hey, if it's good enough for ansel...

 

[epatsellis]

Can you provide citatations definitively indicating Ansel used a pinhole? I'm not familiar with any, but I can email a friend that studied under him in the early 80's to see if he heard mention of anything.

 

[David Hicks]

Ive got a photography textbook that has a series of photos of a barn that Ansel shot with different sized pinholes, but obviously he wasn't a pinhole guy primarily.

 

[djacobox372]

borrow, rent or find a local who might mentor you and introduce you to the equipment. $700 can find you a decent 4x5 setup, but not a practical 8x10 setup. 4x5 development is the same as 8x10, no difference other than size. Its going to come down to what works for you, I skipped MF went to 4x5 for about a year then 8x10 and up and have not touched anything smaller in quite some time, it will be a matter of workflow, budget and desire.

8x10 development can be a bit trickier, as there are no daylight/inversion tanks available for 8x10 that I know of. You can develop 4x5 in a combiplan or jobo tank by hand without a darkroom.

 

[djacobox372]

8x10 contact prints are amazing, the downside being very cumbersome gear and expensive film. Developing 8x10 isn't quite as easy as 4x5 either--typically sheet by sheet tray development is all you can do. Then there are lenses: quality lenses that cover 8x10 are $$. Of course you can always use a 4x5 back on an 8x10 camera along with 4x5 coverage lenses.

As for enlarging, there's always digital scanning; and 4x5 enlargers are not that hard to come by these days as everybody is gutting out their darkrooms. And there's always the graflarger attachment that will turn any graflock back 4x5 camera into a decent enlarger--I use one of these with pleasing results.

It all depends on the style of photography. I'm currently looking for an 8x10 camera so I can make those amazing contact prints, but it would in no way replace my 4x5, which I can walk around the city and shoot handheld.

Yes indeed, 8x10 contacts can be amazing. It is definitely a bit more costly to start with but I believe it is well worth the extra expense. I don't agree with 8x10 being less a walk around camera than a 4x5 but it may just be my age which makes 4x5 no easier to be a walk around format :lmao:

The developing one sheet of film at a time is not really a problem imho. Part of the fun of LF is to work slow. Also, 4x5 contacts are not impossible. I have known plenty of photogs shooting and framing smaller Polaroids but they don't seem to appeal as much to the average buyer which is why I went to 8x10 with the possibility of shooting 4x5 and enlarge those... and tbh I have just bought a 4x5 enlarger.

I would love to find an 8x10 enlarger but I was never successful the last time so I'm not getting my hopes up.

However, I totally disagree with digital scanning. I feel that if you are going to shoot film, you should PP your image the traditional way. In the darkroom. I love the smell of developer in the morning

I don't really get the traditionalist view... it's the print that matters. An enlargement, if done well, is just a blown up version of the negative (reversed and with manipulated exposure), whether this is done digitally or via analog, there's very little if any noticeable difference in the final image.

As for digital sensors, they're VERY different from negatives. To say one shouldn't use film if they don't have a darkroom, is not the advice I would give.

Also, handheld, there's a bit of a difference between 4x5 and 8x10.

 

[christopher walrath]

So, OP, what decisions have you arrived at in your quest for bigger is better? We would all like to know.

 

[Paul Ron]

Most LFers are former MFers. All you need to do is drop your credit card on the table at B&H. They know exactly what you need plus some.

BTW you'll need some new darkroom equipment as well so you develope n print your treasure$.