If you aren't actually staying the night and you can haul an overnight pack- then it's not unreasonable. Of course you can take steps to lighten your 8x10 kit considerably as others have said. Staying the night with a heavy 8x10 and your overnight gear in Fall or Winter Mountain weather- that might be crazy.
Why would you want the slowest film? As others have pointed out, a major limitation on 8x10 is shutter speeds, both because of subject movement (wind blows clouds and trees) and camera movement (wind blows it as well).
If you are scanning, negative film is much better on all counts. Are you are pretty accomplished 4x5 photographer - if not, be prepared to shoot a lot of sheets of 8x10 before you head to the mountains. It is not the place to learn. You also cannot carry enough holders to do much backup shooting to cover errors.
If you are just getting started, then you might get a lot better results with 4x5 and shooting 20 shots each hike, rather than 4 or really pushing it and doing 6 in 8x10. All those theoretical advantages of 8x10 depend on flawless technique. The real world trade-offs can eat you up fast. Just the luxury of shooting an extra sheet at f45 or with a different filter or exposure is great in 4x5. You do not have the luxury with 8x10 when you are hiking.
Ed Richards
http://www.epr-art.com
This is definitely going to be tricky if you go the color neg route. Officially Fuji only recommends Pro 160C for exposures as long as 30 seconds, and only after applying an additional 1 stop of exposure for reciprocity (i.e., total actual exposure time of one minute for a measured 30 second exposure). Alas, Pro160C is not cut in 8x10! Pro160S is available in 8x10, but again "officially" Fuji does not recommend using exposures longer than 4 seconds with that film. The latest Kodak Portra emulsions are even worse: one test I have seen reported a required reciprocity correction of 1 1/2 stops for a 30 second measured exposure with Portra 160NC (I assume the remaining Portras will require similar corrections). I have not seen any reciprocity data for the latest version of Portra 400NC.Originally Posted by marcwilson
Tranny film would be much better from a reciprocity perspective (my trusty Provia 100F does not require any correction up to a 128 second measured exposure), but of course now you're back to exposure latitude concerns.
You may need to do some long exposure tests with 35mm film stock to verify whether one of these 8x10 color neg emulsions will work for you.
I've hauled the 8x10 up many,many steep mountain sides, and hope I can keep doing it another decade at least (I'm 60 now). But as others have mentioned, you really have to conserve film - not much room for error. I really enjoy shooting and printing
8x10, but when out for several days I revert to 4x5. Just not enough room in the pack.
150cm is around 60 inch (59.06"). For human eyes 300dpi is about the upper limit of appreciating prints; and for Provia film 4000dpi is about the grain resolution. Therefore
60 inch * 300 dpi / 4000 dpi = 4.5 inch, meaning you'll be making very fine 150cm-wide prints by using 4.5" wide film. 4x5" therefore will be more than enough for you; 8x10 is an overkill in terms of resolution. I won't go 8x10 unless I want to reduce the grains in the prints.
Correction:
My initial calculation above is wrong. I forget the lense resolution. LF lense resolution is around 60-80 l/mm, that converts to around 1800dpi. that way the desirable film format wide will be 60 * 300 / 1800 = 10 inch, so 8x10 seems perfect...
The projects I am shooting involve slow shutter speeds to show the movements you talk about...hence slow film to allow these slower shutter speeds without having to bump up aperture to get them...huge of depth of filed is not a prime concern. An added bonus of course is the finer grain for the size of prints I have discussed.
I've shot 5x4 for many years so no problems there.
One of my concerns with 8x10 is due to the nature of the shots required, and the slow shutter speeds involved, will the possible effect of wind leading to camera movement be so magnified on the 8x10 over the 4x5 be so much as to negate any advantages?
Under these shooting conditions perhaps a sturdy 4x5 monorail is the better way to go?
As for film, I'll work that bit out in terms of exposure latitude, scanning suitability, etc, etc
Marc
Whenever I think of long exposures w 8x10 I remember a commercial car shoot set-up I saw, they were doing post-sunset shots in the desert and the camera was mounted on the heaviest Gitzo and then the tripod was sandbagged.
So the likely combination of an 8x10 field camera on a smaller, packable tripod seems a step down from that. Not that you wouldn't get beautiful photos, but you probably wouldn't want to compare results between the two types of set-ups....
Somehow Misrach did all this, long exposures, 8x10 color neg, out in the wind, with his obsolete equipment a good 25 years ago....
I've seen Misach's desert prints in a gallery. Those prints are what I thought of immediately when I saw this post.
Misrach's work is intersting and visually arresting in the sizes he prints in, but not terribly sharp up close. Personally, I doubt much is to be gained from using 8x10 for such a project rather than 4x5. (And I shoot 8x10, not 4x5.)
Most people contact print from 8x10. As a result, almost any lens will give enough resolution for a fine print. When you enlarge he neg as you describe, you will need very good lenses so that the image will not break down on enlargement. Wind, vibration, and lens resolution all factor-in with the objective you describe.
So factoring in just wind vibration on a normal day...at what shutter speeds does the 8x10 lose its advantage over the 45 format? (all other factors such as weight, film, etc can be overcome)
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