Is there a list anywhere of the different formats produced in the LF category?
Is there a list anywhere of the different formats produced in the LF category?
Wayne, it depends how exotic you want to get. Off the top of my head, I'm aware of cameras built to use sheet film in the following formats (in inches):
2.25x3.25
3.25x4.25 (quarter plate)
3.25x5.5 ("postcard")
4x5
4.75x6.5 (half plate)
5x7
4x10
5x8
6.5x8.5 (whole plate)
5x12
6x10
7x11
8x10
9x9 (aware of one custom-built camera / holder set only)
6x15
7x17
11x14
8x20
12x20
14x17
14x20 (aware of one camera / holder set in use, though supposedly more backs were made)
16x20
20x24
I'm sure others here will come up with more. Also, this doesn't include European sheet film formats in centimeter measures, and I'm probably missing some of the odd panoramic formats that for a while were coming from the Indian seller lexim2k via eBay.
Sheet film does not make a camera large format.
I was taught that 4x5 is the lower limit of "large" format; anything smaller than 4x5 is medium format or a small format.
10 x 12 as well to Oren's excellent list
Monty
Large Format is a state of mind, not a camera size.
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
Two more historical plate sizes (I don't think either were ever made in film):
Half plate; 4.25 x 5.5" (note that this is different from Oren's half plate film size) also 18x22.
There were a handful of smaller plate sizes as well.
Thanks to Monty and Jason for catching me on those additional formats. 10x12 should have been obvious, because it's part of the Ilford special order.
If I recall correctly, Michael A Smith shot at least some film in 18x22.
My friend has a 9x9 that he bought off ebay, wonder if it is the same camera that Oren mentions in his list. The camera actually has a 9x9, 7x11, and a 8x10 back.
How about my pinhole camera that I'm just about done building, it's a panoramic designed to take half sheets of 11x14. No holders, you have to load the film or in my case the paper in the camera one sheet at a time in the dark.
Roger
I suspect it is. Butch Welch originally built a multiformat camera with those three formats; that's what I had in mind. He used to have a website showing the camera, but that's long gone. If I recall correctly, the project was also written up in View Camera. I wonder how many times the kit has changed hands since he sold it.
There was an Indian manufacturer who produced 6x15 and 8x15 cameras. the name began with Vag I think. Paul Ewins has one that he bought a couple of years ago on Ebay.
Mike
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