does anyone shoot med or large format anymore?

[Mark McCall]

A wise man once said...."There are no stupid questions. Only stupid answers".

[heartseye]

He wasn't all that wise.....of course there are stupid questions. Stupid quotes too.....

[J.A.F. Doorhof]

Let's keep it a bit nice to each other

[heartseye]

[jayavant]

many of my images are on my flickr site

here's a picture of one of my LF cameras (Devon de Vere 4x5 monorail), taken with one of my MF cameras (rolleiflex 3.5b) -



on flickr

[walter23]

jayavant, what's the location? Looks nice.

[Not4wood]

Ya know, I have my 4x5 sitting in a shoulder bag way back in my bedroom closet, haven't touched it in years. I lost my Polaroid back for it a long time ago, and maybe I should get another one so I could test out the lighting so I could shoot with it. I dont even know if my old bellows is still good. Oh no............... Thanks guys, now you've given me the urge again. I no longer have any darkroom stuff anymore. Now i'm gonna have to look around to see where I could get B&W 4x5 negs developed. Been a real long time.

[jayavant]

Originally Posted by walter23

jayavant, what's the location? Looks nice.

been away. didn't see this.

the location is the glasshouse mountains, about 80km north of brisbane, in australia. the larger mountains are, L to R - tibrogargan, beerwah and cunowran (sp?) - the latter is also known as crookneck. they are volcanic plugs.

photo was taken from wildhorse lookout. it was a long tiring walk up that hill with my view camera and tripod i tell you...

[epatsellis]

Since I've upgraded from Toyos to Sinars, I've been using my 4x5 constantly in the studio, with a PhaseOne scanback, it blows away anything else we've ever had in the studio. Only thing that sucks is the 3 1/2 min exposures, but after seeing the customer's face when we gave him the first images shot with it, it's a keeper. Having the ability to make movements, as well as use all the lenses that I already have made it a no brainer.

erie

[SecondFocus]

Medium format is still my favorite and lately I have been shooting more and more film. I just recently posted some photos from a shoot on my Blog with the film types used. You might take a look if you are interested. Go to SecondFocus and click on Blog.

[Paul Shields]

I'm sure there's still a big interest in shooting medium or large frame images. The prices are tumbling as we know, but the quality is still up there for those who want to invest the time and effort. I'd love to get myself equipped in this format. It's still a bit of a minefield for me as I'm not that familiar with the various formats. The idea of shooting transparencies measured in inches and viewing them on a light table is really tempting though.

[Paul Shields]

Originally Posted by SecondFocus

Medium format is still my favorite and lately I have been shooting more and more film. I just recently posted some photos from a shoot on my Blog with the film types used. You might take a look if you are interested. Go to SecondFocus and click on Blog.

Great blog secondfocus. I remember your post about how you got on with the new Olympus E-3 gear - really interesting stuff. It's nice to see you shooting so many different formats. It's all good, as they say .

[Ed Shapiro]

Nowadays many young photographers are just too preoccupied with having the latest "cutting edge" digital equipment to the point where the automatically and negatively criticize folks who still use film or large format equipment. Some photographers have become so accustomed to using fully automatic equipment that issues such as proper exposure, contrast control, depth of field considerations, image management procedures (swings and tilts) and even manual focusing techniques are totally foreign to them. All those nasty things; bellows extension factors, filter usage, reciprocity law failure, color balance and conversion issues and many "problems" that come along with film usage are either unknown to many or considered a collection of pains in the neck that are issues of the past- so why bother.

In the professional studio world and among serious art photographers large and medium format and film usage is still a necessary part of daily work and con not be replaced by digital photography. or camera without view camera features. There is also the area of film processing, photo-chemistry, manipulation in development, push processing, the zone system and all kinds of processes which are no longer offered in photographic courses or general literature. If someone want to use film, all if theses skills have to be revisited or learned for the first time.

My view cameras are in constant use. I have many clients who still require 4x5 and 8x10 original transparencies. Among the areas with theses requirements are: art reproduction for fine lithographic) prints and evaluation, interior and exterior architectural photography with full perspective control, food and beverage layouts with multiple planes of focus, advertising still life assignments and a variety of assignments where clients and art directors simply prefer the "look" of film images.

In my portraiture department, I use certain soft focus and other specialized prime lenses who's effect can not be replicated in digital images or "faked" in Photoshop. Lenses like the Imagon, which is essentially a view camera lens and my 150mm Mamiya Sekor SF (soft focus) lens for the RB are supurb for that "Hollywood" or retro look that has become popular in recent years. Theses are very marketable effects and, to my clients, seem a cut above the rest and are willing to pay the extra bucks to have images which are more flattering and unique.

This post is not to minimize digital photography or the latest in electronic imaging. All of this has a place in my studio as well. If my film images require electronic manipulation or special effects, I have been very successful in scanning the negatives and going from there. If I have break-neck deadlines to cope with, my digital system is a godsend. It's really just a matter of applying the right tools to the right job.

If anyone or anything ever brings and end to large format or film photography, It will be the manufactures of film, chemicals and paper who are already diminishing their offerings. For me, there is still enough stuff out there to keep my analog darkroom busy and my film holders loaded.

There have been some regrettable losses of materials: Verechrome Pan Film (incredible gradations), Professional Copy Film (total contrast control in copy and restoration). Tri-X Ortho (kick-butt portrait studies), Ektalure Paper and Selectol Developer (a great portraiture combination) and a number of other specialized products- G-d rest their little souls.

Regardless of my seemingly reactionary tone here, I still look forward to the future refinement of digital photography. I am currently looking at digital backs for my view cameras, what with Polaroid coming to it's inconvenient demise- I still like it for testing procedures. I am also working on a lease agreement for a Hasselblad digital camera for my large format output- photographs for signage, billboards and back-lit commercials displays. I am also well invested, over the years in Hasselblad gear and am not about to scrap it anytime soon

Ed

[SecondFocus]

Originally Posted by Paul Shields

Great blog secondfocus. I remember your post about how you got on with the new Olympus E-3 gear - really interesting stuff. It's nice to see you shooting so many different formats. It's all good, as they say .

Thanks for the kind words. I try to go with the format that fit's what I need for the job. I will say that I am shooting more and more film in medium format and for my casual work, 35mm in a Contax G1. This is medium format film...

[Not4wood]

Very nice...

I am an old B&W Photographer and those grey tones are wonderful. I haven't shot B&W film in a very long time. What film is that?

Now, since your talking high quality medium format B&W I have two questions for you. The first one is obvious, how or what do you use to scan those into digital?
The second is for such a high quality B&W, what do you use to print that?

I haven't seen anything in the digital equipment that can print B&W with that kind of quality. Now of course if you have a B&W darkroom still setup thats another story but my old B&W darkroom has been closed since about oh sheesh. I'm talking since '88...

[SecondFocus]

The film on that was Fuji Neopan Acros 100.

I have the scanning done at "The Icon" in Los Angeles, the icon. They process the film and then roll scan, which I typically request at 10 megs. The images are then uploaded to my online light-box called an Icon Box. I download the photos from there. If I need anything larger I have them drum scan typically at 50 megs which is also uploaded to my Icon Box. The photo displayed is from the roll scan. I just requested a drum scan of it so that should look even better. The drum scan is for a magazine for publication.

For single prints that I need for display etc, I print here on a Canon ipf5000. The printer is capable of outstanding prints but I have found the results are greatly dependent on the type of paper. And the selection of the paper needs to be based on your vision of how it should look. Lately I have been using Hahnemühle papers and I especially like "Fine Art Satin 310gsm". I especially like it for B&W.

By the way, the camera was a Mamiya 645AFDII with the Mamiya 45mm 2.8 lens or the 80mm, I just don't recall.

Thanks for the kind words!