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Thread: 4x5 vs 8x10

  1. #11

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    Re: 4x5 vs 8x10

    Many years ago was covering a national Bass Fishing Tournament for Riverfront Recapture in Hartford, CT. Met the official photographer for the event. Noticed that he was using a pair of Nikon D1s. (the D1s sensor is just 2.7-megapixels). So I asked him, if the D1 had enough resolution for a double page spread photo. He pointed me to a semi trailer that had an image printed on it. Told me it was one of his D1 images.

    Years later, one of my D700's images was printed about 16 feet wide for an outdoor permanent exhibit... looked great.

    Sometimes I really question why I shoot 11x14 and make contact prints from... shooting digital and make digital negatives of to print so much easier....

  2. #12
    Jac@stafford.net's Avatar
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    Re: 4x5 vs 8x10

    Quote Originally Posted by Greg View Post
    [...] Sometimes I really question why I shoot 11x14 and make contact prints from... shooting digital and make digital negatives of to print so much easier....
    Clearly, "F8 and be there" is difficult with a large view camera while the digialmatics are making 8 frames per second'.
    .

  3. #13
    Foamer
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    Re: 4x5 vs 8x10

    Quote Originally Posted by eyunicean View Post
    need help!


    Further, what brand would you recommend, especially considering my usage with strobes and speedlights. I predominantly use speedlights, but often time borrow strobes from a friend when needed. What sort of lens should I be looking at as well...

    Thank u.

    I suggest 4x5, partly because it's a little easier, partly because it does give very good results, and partly because the cost of shooting color 8x10 film (and pretty much everything associated with 8x10) will cost a big pile of money. As a beginner, you're going to be making a lot of mistakes, and with 8x10 color film those mistakes are going to cost you $15 each plus processing. As for flash, I shoot flash with 4x5. Typically I'm shooting black & white film (HP5) pushed to ISO 800. If you are shooting color at ISO 160, keep in mind you generally stop down to at least f16, and maybe more even with 4x5. That's going to take a lot of light! I use White Lightning x3200 monolights which put out 1240ws of power. I own eight of them.


    Kent in SD
    In contento ed allegria
    Notte e di vogliam passar!

  4. #14

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    Re: 4x5 vs 8x10

    Quote Originally Posted by otto.f View Post
    Before I bought my Chamonix 45-F2 recently it helped me a lot to start at the end of the pipeline instead of at the beginning (which is the camera):
    - how do I develop my sheet films stainlessly, I hate stains so I’d rather avoid tray-development. What developing tanks can I find and where, to develop my 8x10 or 4x5?
    - can I get filmholders for 4x5 and 8x10, and where?
    - how do I want to move with the whole pack: walking, bike, car, backpack, bike-pack, trunk
    - is my tripod stable enough; do I need something else and more expensive for 8x10 than for 4x5; and the same for the tripod head/ball head

    The answers to these questions led me to start with 4x5 with scanning of negatives at first. Along the road I’ll decide whether I go back to wet printing again.
    Tray development in the dark with a brush assures even development, no edge density problems and clean negatives. Easy to do.

    Plenty of ads here for used 4x5 and 8x10 film holders. Plenty of good photo stores with new holders available.

    Traveling with an 8x10 is not difficult. Lois Connor used a 7x17 camera in China and took it around on a bicycle. Morley Baer photographed the California countryside and architectural work using 8x10 for decades. If you want to do it you will find a way that works for you.

    A lot of tripods work for 8x10. Same tripod will work fine for 4x5. Personal preference for pan/tilt heads with large format, not ball heads. Your preference may well be different. Used tripods and heads on here all the time.

    If you want to use Large Format gear this is a good place to be. A lot of helpful people with experience. Sometimes decades of experience.

    A book like Steve Simmons on Using the View Camera would be worth getting. Can help with some of the questions.
    ” Never attribute to inspiration that which can be adequately explained by delusion”.

  5. #15

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    Re: 4x5 vs 8x10

    Quote Originally Posted by Willie View Post
    Tray development in the dark with a brush assures even development, no edge density problems and clean negatives. Easy to do.

    Plenty of ads here for used 4x5 and 8x10 film holders. Plenty of good photo stores with new holders available.

    Traveling with an 8x10 is not difficult. Lois Connor used a 7x17 camera in China and took it around on a bicycle. Morley Baer photographed the California countryside and architectural work using 8x10 for decades. If you want to do it you will find a way that works for you.

    A lot of tripods work for 8x10. Same tripod will work fine for 4x5. Personal preference for pan/tilt heads with large format, not ball heads. Your preference may well be different. Used tripods and heads on here all the time.

    If you want to use Large Format gear this is a good place to be. A lot of helpful people with experience. Sometimes decades of experience.

    A book like Steve Simmons on Using the View Camera would be worth getting. Can help with some of the questions.
    Thanks Willie for your tips. In Europe your groceries for 8x10 are a lot more difficult than in the US, shipment from US isn’t ideal, I can better order from Japan. 4x5 is a starting point for me, maybe I skip 8x10 and jump to 11x14, which makes contact-printing a lot more interesting for me.
    Tray development with a brush, I never heard of that. You mean brush on the emulsion side? Have you got a link?

  6. #16

    Re: 4x5 vs 8x10

    Quote Originally Posted by Ari View Post
    Nope.
    8x10 will give you a small improvement in apparent sharpness, and increased depth and tonality. All of those can quickly be negated by poor technique, which takes a while to overcome.


    Yep.
    But you ask about 4x5 vs 8x10, having had no experience with either; the learning curve for both formats is steep, expensive and time-consuming.
    If I were in your shoes, I'd instead look at the Fuji GX680 system.
    You already have experience with MF; the GX680 gives front movements, lots of lenses to choose from, and with top-notch technique & scanning, will yield fantastic mural-size enlargements.
    Interesting that you suggest sticking with MF. Would a MF really yield fantastic mural-size enlargements? At 48x65", I assume the original poster wants a fine art print, perhaps to be viewed at a gallery or as a statement piece in homes, would it print nicely?

    I shoot 35mm and am considering MF or LF because I would like to make larger prints for exhibitions...

  7. #17

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    Re: 4x5 vs 8x10

    Quote Originally Posted by otto.f View Post
    Thanks Willie for your tips. In Europe your groceries for 8x10 are a lot more difficult than in the US, shipment from US isn’t ideal, I can better order from Japan. 4x5 is a starting point for me, maybe I skip 8x10 and jump to 11x14, which makes contact-printing a lot more interesting for me.
    Tray development with a brush, I never heard of that. You mean brush on the emulsion side? Have you got a link?
    I learned brush development from my Uncle who learned from a friend of his from Mexico, Jorge Gasteazoro. Never met him but am told he used to be on here a lot. Process is simple. Pre-soak the negative for a few minutes in water the temperature of the developer. Then transfer to the developer, emulsion side up. Then a Hake brush/richeson "magic" brush or the like. You go up and down, then side to side. Then down and up and side to side. Do it slowly and smoothly. No air bells, no scratches and no unevenly developed sky or single tone areas. Development is done in the dark using either time/temperature or with inspection under the green safelight or infra-red goggles.

    It is simple and easy and the result is clean negatives. Downside for many is that it is slow and a one at a time process. At least it is one at a time for me as that is how I learned and have not experimented with more than one negative at a time.
    ” Never attribute to inspiration that which can be adequately explained by delusion”.

  8. #18

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    Re: 4x5 vs 8x10

    Something else to consider is who is doing the drum scan. Just like darkroom printers, some drum scan technicians are better than others. It takes time and experience to get good.

  9. #19
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    Re: 4x5 vs 8x10

    4x5. Try a rollfilm back on it as well, it's a cheap(er) way to test your skills with movements and the like.
    Drum scan, drum scan, drum scan. Shoot less, pay for good scans from a quality operator, who knows their machine and how film curves work. Don't just go the cheap route.
    Less is more. Learn with less equipment, equipment doesn't make the photographer, a photographer who understands composition and lighting techniques can use a cell phone and generate a higher quality photograph than some amateur know-nothing with all the money and equipment in the world.

    Billboards are printed from cell phone pictures these days, Apple and Samsung have 150+ foot high advertisements on the sides of buildings here in LA.

    Determine what print process you desire to do, then formulate your shooting process to match it.

  10. #20

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    Re: 4x5 vs 8x10

    Quote Originally Posted by Daniel Stone View Post

    Billboards are printed from cell phone pictures these days, Apple and Samsung have 150+ foot high advertisements on the sides of buildings here in LA.

    A Billboard needs no more than 2 MPix, while point of view viewing angle from left to right sides is normally smaller than the one we have at home when watching TV, a HD 1920x1080 like resolution is great for a billboard.

    I've measured some 7MPix effective resolution from a cell phone (it had 20Mpix Sony sensor), so I agree that a cell phone shot can be way enough for a billboard.

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