Why do you like Large Format photography? (Philosophy Talk Time)

[shmoo]

Large format taught me to see. Smaller formats could have, maybe, but they didn't. LF didn't have to, I suppose, but it did.

It works better for me than the smaller formats for many things. Not for everything, but most of the time I reach for a view camera.

If I were a sports or fashion photographer, I'd probably have a different viewpoint. But I'm not, so I don't.



Mike

You got me thinking here. I'd have to agree with everyone on the technical as well as the psychological advantages of larger formats, but Mike's statement got me thinking. Using a large format camera has made my smaller format work better as well...

[nathanm]

Large format allows you to dump all resources into the Quality part of "Quantity vs. Quality" and allows a rare single choice in the "Good, Fast, Cheap" equation. Although if you compare it to digital medium format backs then Good\Cheap works, but overall it's not very cheap, it's just good.

The sad part is that nobody seems to have the willpower to artificially apply the much-praised working limitations of large format to other formats. It is entirely possible to go into the field and only shoot 8 carefully taken pictures in a day with a digital camera, but it never happens. You come back with a card full of crap and then you sift out whatever good stuff is there. Something like 'shooting expands to fill the format allotted' must be at work I suspect.

But mostly, LF cameras don't have menus, buttons, cruddy video viewfinders and they don't need batteries. Well, one's meter does. Can't have everything I guess. They smell better too.

[darr]

For me it is truly the marriage of technical and artistry.
It forces me to stop and smell the roses.

[h2oman]

I used 35mm transparency film for 20+ years, off and on. Then nothing for a few years. Then another 35mm camera, followed by a water-resistant digital P&S that worked well around and slightly under fresh water, but I killed it in the ocean. Another short dry spell, then bought a DSLR two years ago. It was fun and I learned a lot, but a year ago I bought a 4x5 to shoot more color transparency film. Now I'm gearing up to develop my own B&W film, having never developed film in my life. I feel like I'm doing everything backward, but I want to experience all the things that you vets out there have been doing for (in some cases many) years. Kind of re-living the evolution of photography backward! I guess what I like about LF is I want a full, deep photographic experience, and I feel like LF is the best way to get it.

[sanking]

This has been my experience as well. I started working with LF cameras for several reasons, but the primary benfit to my photography was that the slower method of working, and viewing the image on the ground glass, helped me to see in a way that I had not seen before. That gave a creative boost to my work. Then, from a technical perspective the ability to selectively expose and develop one sheet of film at a time was liberating in that it gave me the ability to make images in very difficult lighting conditions.

In many ways I have been able to transfer these creative and technical abilities, which were honed in LF, to other types of cameras, including MF rangefinders and digital. I would say for sure that of all the cameras I have used the the LF ones taught me the most, both about creativity and technique.

Sandy King

You got me thinking here. I'd have to agree with everyone on the technical as well as the psychological advantages of larger formats, but Mike's statement got me thinking. Using a large format camera has made my smaller format work better as well...

[KEK]

I have to agree with Mike , Schmoo and Sandy. I started with a 5 x 7 a couple of years ago for a project that I felt needed the quality and creative possabilities of LF. It's been very frustrating at times but it has taught me alot that has carried over to my MF both creatively and technically.

Kevin

[Rob_5419]

My apologies if posted before, but planning a vacation has me pondering.

Question: What is it about Large Format photography that makes you do it? It's not convenient or fast or inexpensive or discrete or any number of things...yet you keep going back....

Caveat: And no, I don't mean in terms of technical debates of LF versus 35 mm or digital, blah, blah, blah...

What sort of vacation are you planning that has you thinking this way?

Since retiring a few years ago, I really looked forward to large format work. I thought I'd like it more, with more time to enjoy it - no commercial pressures and no client pressures after a lifetime of working with 8x10" format and seeing the industry contract down to APS digital sensor size.

If I wanted a format to slow me down, then maybe I would have asked for arthritis earlier.
If I wanted a format which would let me see an 8x10" window, then I would have just got an illuminated LCD screen without squinting into the corners.
If I wanted to meet people, I'd hang out more at the local conservative club. Or if I was really sad, just look up the lonely hearts ads.
If I wanted to think more about photography, maybe I would just stay on Erwin Putts' 35mm format homepages.
If I wanted to relax more, I'd probably get out and shoot more LF images, instead of talking about them.

Is there a good reason for large format, apart from nostalgia?

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be. Since retiring, it's not been large format all the way. Anyone want to buy a Gandolfi half-plate camera?

Still looking for a reason to enjoy LF after all this time.

[cjbroadbent]

In the sixties it was 'like it or lump it'. We shot 35mm for fun and pleasure and 8x10 on our day job. Now it's the other way round.

[Bob McCarthy]

To me it's all about real estate. That big sheet of film has more inherent quality for the buck than any other approach. It's really inexpensive unless you shoot an awful lot (I'm mostly B&W) and the latest technology has yet to come close one shot in spite of digital fans saying otherwise.


Medium format digital comes closest but at what price?? Digital is coming closer and closer and someday will haul down the old girl, but at the present she still has time in her...

bob

[jnantz]

it isn't so much the "takes a long time to set up, contemplate the scene, and take 30 spot meter readings " for me, but more the interaction i get to have with whoever, or whatever my subject might be. i also find it easier to print a bullet-proof large format negative than a smaller format negative the same amount of bullet-proofishness ...