Why do you (still) shoot LF?

[Rider]

I'd be interested in hearing your responses, both in words and through the multiple choice question.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

All of the above, but first and foremost for the image quality.

[Vaughn]

Large negative for contact printing alt processes

[Bruce Watson]

I'd be interested in hearing your responses, both in words and through the multiple choice question.

Why do I still shoot LF? Because it still offers the highest specific image quality (image quality per kg or even image quality per $ USD [at the volumes I shoot]). I keep an eye open for alternatives, but I don't see anything on the horizon that will lure me away. But I can be lured...

[Matt Blaze]

For me it's primarily the availability of movements to control perspective and the large sensor/film area that gives shallower DoF (and better control of what's in and out of focus) for a given angle of view. The latter cannot easily be manipulated after exposure, either digitally or optically, and so this is what is likely to keep me shooting LF even as smaller-format DSLRs improve. (I suppose I'm bucking the crowd here, since many photographers seem to aim for as much DoF as they can get, in which case a smaller format is actually an advantage).

[Steven Barall]

I wouldn't exactly say that I enjoy the slow pace but rather that I like the formality of it all. I like that I have to be considerate in a way that is not necessary when shooting film in rolls. There is also a certain amount of toil involved which to me feels like work which is a feeling that I like.

Also, seeing the image on the ground glass is not the same thing as seeing it in a viewfinder. You get to step back a bit and think. The upside down and backwards image offers just the right amount of abstraction as well. It offers perspective, like being removed from the scene. It's like looking back at an event after a period of time has passed, you get a new view of that scene because of that passage of time, you get a new perspective. That's what a ground glass view camera image does for me it lets me step back both physically and emotionally.

[alec4444]

I wouldn't exactly say that I enjoy the slow pace but rather that I like the formality of it all. I like that I have to be considerate in a way that is not necessary when shooting film in rolls. There is also a certain amount of toil involved which to me feels like work which is a feeling that I like.

Also, seeing the image on the ground glass is not the same thing as seeing it in a viewfinder. You get to step back a bit and think. The upside down and backwards image offers just the right amount of abstraction as well. It offers perspective, like being removed from the scene. It's like looking back at an event after a period of time has passed, you get a new view of that scene because of that passage of time, you get a new perspective. That's what a ground glass view camera image does for me it lets me step back both physically and emotionally.

Well said. The only thing I'd add is that to me, shooting large format makes me feel that I'm practicing a craft again. Not "arts and crafts" mind you, but the type of craft that used to spawn "masters" and "apprentices". The type of photography where time, practice, consistency & patience yield true results; not in weeks or months but over years. And nothing like my day job makes me wish more that I practiced a craft for a living.

--A

[Walter Calahan]

Is there another format? Grin.

[Robert Oliver]

Because a chimp can't operate a view camera....

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Because a chimp can't operate a view camera....

LOL...you made my day..