Info on 4x10 camera and films, please

[John Hoang]

Hi all,

I am contemplating a panoramic camera, instead of going with 6x17, I am thinking about a Fotoman or a Shenhao 4x10. Since I am shooting 5x7, most of my lenses could be used, from wide to tele without problems. I would loose the convenience of using roll films but the 4x10 route is possibly less expensive, larger slides, movements (Shenhao 4x10)... I would really appreciate your help about the following info:

1. If I choose Fotoman 4x10, how easy to remove the lens from the Helical Focusing device to be used on my 5x7

2. Is it possible to just cut an 8x10 film in halves and they would fit the film holder. Or I have to use dedicated 4x10 films, in this case where to buy transparencies?

Many thanks.

[Donald Brewster]

Kerry Thalmann wrote a fairly comprehensive article on the 4x10 in a 2005 issue of View Camera. I believe Keith Canham regularly makes 4x10 holders. You can cut 8x10 transparency film down using a rototrimmer without too much difficulty.

[Bruce Watson]

Kerry Thalmann wrote a fairly comprehensive article on the 4x10 in a 2005 issue of View Camera.

An excellent article. Should tell you most of what you'll want to know.

Also, APUG has a panoramic camera forum that you can search and where you can ask questions.

[Ron Marshall]

There is an article on this site by Kerry about 4x10:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/4x10.html

[Oren Grad]

1. If I choose Fotoman 4x10, how easy to remove the lens from the Helical Focusing device to be used on my 5x7

It's not a good idea to be constantly mounting and unmounting view camera lenses - if they were intended to be used that way, they would have been designed with rugged, quick-action bayonet mounts like 35 or medium format lenses rather than the fussy, dainty screw threads they actually have. Also, setting up a calibrated helical mount involves not just screwing in the lens, but also tweaking against a visual check on the ground glass to make sure the mount is properly aligned for inifinity focus, and possibly having to keep track of shims needed to make it come out right. Doing that repeatedly will get really old really fast.

2. Is it possible to just cut an 8x10 film in halves and they would fit the film holder.

Yes, but you may find that you need two cuts rather than one. Because of the difference between nominal and actual sheet film dimensions and production tolerances for film and for holders you could find that splitting an 8x10 sheet in half gives you two sheets that are ever so slightly too wide for your 4x10 holders. Someone like Kerry Thalmann who's done a lot of this could give you a better idea of whether this is likely to be a problem in actual practice.

[CXC]

Anybody agree with me that 4x10 is too small and 8x20 is too big? Obviously somebody should make a 6x15. Inches, that is...

[Bruce Watson]

Anybody agree with me that 4x10 is too small and 8x20 is too big? Obviously somebody should make a 6x15. Inches, that is...

I like 4x10 because it is small. I'll be scanning the film (If I ever get there). I think bigger sizes would make for good contact printing though. Is that what you have in mind?

[Ron Marshall]

Anybody agree with me that 4x10 is too small and 8x20 is too big? Obviously somebody should make a 6x15. Inches, that is...

How about 7x17 or 8x12?

[Oren Grad]

There's been renewed attention to 5x12 recently; Keith Canham has built a few more cameras in this format, and Shen-Hao now offers a 5x12 model as well.

An eBay vendor from India, "lexim2k", has sold a few old 6x15 cameras.

So sheet film cameras with approximately the 1:2.5 aspect ratio have been built at least in 4x10, 5x12, 6x15, 7x17 and 8x20 formats, and at least four of those formats (all except 6x15) are readily available today. That's pretty amazing for such a specialized niche.

[CXC]

Yeah, it's funny how the various formats have ended up evolving. So many panoramics, yet no squares...