reasons for shooting different formats?

[mlatterich]

If I had to chose one, I'd be shooting large format a all times. What attracts me beyond resolution and freedom of composition are the plethora of options to process film to bring out the best tonality or the most vibrant colors. Right now, there is no substitute.

There are practical considerations that make me soot medium format film and digital. For example, if I am in the studio and have to have something to show the next day, I will shoot digital. When I go places for the first time, I usually carry my film MF with a variety of different films. Main reason are compromise between mobility and ability to shoot reasonable photos. If I like something after developing the MF film, I usually head back out with my LF.

While there are some really great 35mm cameras out there that are well suited for candid and street photography, it is not my "thing". I have totally abandoned shooting 35mm three years ago after being spoiled by MF and especially LF.

To come back to the original question - I have mental check-list to consider before I pack my camera back. If I'm driving somewhere, I usually have my spare 4x5 field camera in my trunk ... just in case ;-).

[Noah A]

I pretty much shoot 4x5 for everything. I chose that format since it suits the way I wanted to shoot. The camera imposes certain limitations but I have chosen to work within those limitations, so in a way my choice of equipment kind of keeps me on track.

I do have a DSLR kit, but I only use it for deadline and/or low-budget jobs.

[Preston]

I pretty much shoot 4x5 for everything. I chose that format since it suits the way I wanted to shoot. The camera imposes certain limitations but I have chosen to work within those limitations, so in a way my choice of equipment kind of keeps me on track.

I do have a DSLR kit, but I only use it for deadline and/or low-budget jobs.

Noah's remarks pretty much sum it for me. I prefer my 4x5 over other formats. I do a smattering of digital, and my Mamiya 645 system has become a closet queen.

--P

[vinny]

to add to what I said earlier about WIND!, I prefer 8x10 but I've found myself shooting more 4x5 since I got a chamonix 45n-2. I just like using that camera a lot. I prefer the view camera as it's just easier to work with a larger viewfinder and camera movements. I hate processing roll film and the resulting quality isn't up to par with my LF originals.

[Brian Ellis]

I stopped using 35mm decades ago, the quality just isn't there for anything larger than 8x10 and even that's stretching it. I used to look for excuses to shoot 8x10, I just loved working with that format. However, I found that the weight was limiting where I could go and therefore the types of photographs I made so I reluctantly discarded it. Today it's almost exclusively my Canon 1Ds MarkIII, I find the quality perfectly fine for the size prints I usually make - about 16x20 or smaller though I've gotten excellent results from the few 20x30 prints I had made - and there are many advantages to using a digital camera compared to film. I've gotten away from being as hung up as I used to be on equipment and materials and try to concentrate on the photographs without worrying too much about how they were made. But if I ever again live in a house where I can have my own darkroom I'll get back into 8x10 at least occasionally, just for the sheer pleasure of using the format.

[Jim Jones]

I haven't ran film through my Leica M in a year or so, and the Nikon system for even longer. Recent indoor sports shooting with a basic DSLR was much more difficult than with the Leica, although the digital images are satisfactory. MF falls somewhat short of LF in image quality, and quite short of 35mm in versatility. My 8x10 hasn't had a taste of film in decades. Much photography is for others, and digital is the logical choice for that. 4x5 is my favorite when choosing quality over convenience. Older LF cameras often have a beauty of engineering that is hidden in modern smaller equipment. Elegant tools make any job more pleasant.

[Edward (Halifax,NS)]

I don't shoot 35mm anymore but I would like to get a digital SLR that would take my lenses. For medium format I have a Yashicamat. If I had an SLR that I could use tripod mounted, that had very sharp lenses I would shoot entirely medium format for film work.

I have added a rollfilm back for my large format camera. 6X7 is a good size piece of film for my uses. Movements are not used a lot but they are nice when absolutely necessary. In a perfect world I would have a 6X12 camera with SHARP 90mm and 150mm lenses, and a MF scanner. I would have bought a 6X12 holder instead of the 6X7 but my camera does not have the international back. 6X12 holders that fit under a spring back are few and far between.

Since it is not a perfect world, I haul out the beast (but use roll film holder) if the picture might make it to my wall, and I use the Yashicamat if I feel like creativity for creativity's sake.

[tgtaylor]

Excepting the 6x6 and 5x7 formats, I shoot with everything from 35mm to 8x10 format. Which format I choose depends solely on the task at hand.

For example street photography demands a quick and discreet response so I'll choose a 35mm with zoom lens or preferably a 645 system which has auto focus, a superior metering system, and delivers a larger negative. On a project that I am currently working on I don't need the speed or flexibility of the smaller formats but do need a faster set-up than large format so I'm using a 6x7 tripod mounted camera with a 200mm lens which is idealy suited for this project and delivers an outstanding negative that can be enlarged to 16x20 or beyond.

My camera of choice for landscape photography is the 4x5 field format and I have a lightweight 4x5 system for backpacking, bicycle touring, and other occasions when minimal bulk and weight is required, and a technical 4x5 system for those other occasions when carrying a few extra pounds of camera and a heavier tripod doesn't matter. For those landscapes, cityscape, and architecture that require greater camera movements are road and dolly accessible, then the 4x5 and 8x10 monorail become the camera of choice with preference given to the latter if an alternative process is envisioned.

So for me the choice of camera and format it totally dependent on the need.

Thomas

[falth j]

For most, Time, and available technology was the main issue from the beginning...


Years ago, there weren’t many choices for reproduction.


I’ve heard where one scene maker spent years trying to get the ‘right effect’, and after all that effort, wasn’t paid for his work, even though he spent the majority of his time on his back working aloft on ‘his masterpiece’, and ended up having to sue or beg for a pittance for his efforts.

As time marched along, covered wagons wet plates and chemistry replaced pigments and hairs.

Technology of reproduction soon obsolesced covered wagons and donkey caravans.

Diminution and minisculizations soon replaced the old big is better philosophical diatribes and rants.

Today, electrons are rapidly replacing miles of shelving once devoted to films, papers, and chemicals that lined the aisle of many stores and warehouses.

Companies that produced these things are dying day by day.


Pretty soon, most of us will all be bald, and there will only be rumored stories about splitting hairs over what was better pigments and hair choices, chemicals, cellulose or tintype choices, and finally electrons, protons, and holographic representations…

our heirs are on YouTube, facebook, ipads, and iphones, what the hell do they care about yesterday, today, or tomorrow, most of them have shaved heads, and inked skins, what the hell do they care about splitting hairs of years long passed them by and the technology….

Who cares about the little piece of plastic that once filled the hole of an old 45 rpm record?

What was that thing called anyway…. An ESDI drive?

[John Kasaian]

[QUOTE=falth j;833069]For most, Time, and available technology was the main issue from the beginning...


Years ago, there weren’t many choices for reproduction.

QUOTE]

Aren't you forgetting the Kama Sutra?