Any benefit to 8x10 over 4x5 if not contact printing?

[tgtaylor]

One benefit is the ability to make in-camera negatives for alternative printing that is big enough to display without enlargening.

Thomas

[BrianShaw]

Learning to use an 8x10 is a bit like learning to target shoot with a flintlock. It will improve your technique tremendously, and everything else will be easy in comparison. The only film you need is Tri-X.

This is good to know. Thanks. Many years ago I shot flintlocks and even built my own rifle. I'll start looking for some free time so I can build my own camrea.

[Jay DeFehr]

One benefit is the ability to make in-camera negatives for alternative printing that is big enough to display without enlargening.

Thomas

You mean..contact printing?

[E. von Hoegh]

You mean..contact printing?

And paper negatives.

[jcoldslabs]

It's lucky I don't have a wife I suppose.

For the record my wife was the one who, a few months ago, pushed me to buy a Century 10A 8x10 with Semi-Centennial stand. She even drove out with me to pick it up and met the guy from whom I bought it.

Of course, this may have just been a way to shut me up about her own recent spending....

And as far as addiction goes, I have to agree. I have not accumulated so much new gear in such a short amount of time as when I made the jump to 8x10 last year.

Jonathan

[Ed Richards]

No question of the advantage of 8x10 if you want to mess with gear. If you want to take pictures, it gets more complicated. The bigger the camera, the less often you will get out with it and the fewer pictures you will take when you get out. (There are exceptions, but they are rare.) If you do not make big prints, or want to do contact printing, then the only reasons are the gear and how much you like the bigger GG versus how much you hate carrying all the stuff around. If you really want a substitute for a wife, you should consider at least 11x14.:-)

[Steve Smith]

Of course, this may have just been a way to shut me up about her own recent spending....

It's usually a diversion from spending you have yet to find out about!


Steve.

[Drew Wiley]

I prefer the quality of 8x10 even for modest enlargements. It just looks different, richer.
With big enlargements, things improve even more dramatically. I don't contact print much,
but when I do ... Where 4x5 has the advantage is with very long focal lengths relative to
format - you can really reach out there, and also with the cost of film, especially color. So I shoot both. With the big camera I just shoot more conservatively, that is, in terms of
film consumption. Just how many shots do you need anyway? You can only print and mount so many of them.

[jcoldslabs]

Just how many shots do you need anyway? You can only print and mount so many of them.

I agree. It used to be I would shoot rolls and rolls of film and print maybe one out of a hundred or so, if that. I am much more careful and purposeful with the 8x10 and, while I shoot far less, my personal success rate per shot has gone way up. The big camera is limiting and I don't get to the far reaches (of the neighborhood, the city, the country) with it, but the process is more rewarding. Now when I shoot roll film I am somewhat at a loss. It's too fast and loose for me!

Also, I really like processing one sheet at a time and the control this affords.

Jonathan

[Ken Lee]

Here's a moderately hi-res scan from 8x10" I posted a few years ago, with four sizes to choose from, and the largest doesn't really come close to showing the full resolution of the neg, or the maximum resolution possible with an 8x10" camera. The camera is an ultralight 8x10" Gowland and the lens was probably a 12" Gold Dot Dagor and the scanner was an Agfa Duoscan--nothing really modern or state of the art for when I made the photo (2004). It's just what you get without working too hard.--

http://www.davidagoldfarb.com/photo/imviaduct.htm

Yeah baby ! I remember that photo from last time. It's just wonderful.

After reading about lenses for the digital world - where people worry about performance in the image corners, color fringing, barrel/pincushion distortion, vignetting, flare, etc. - it's refreshing to see that the latest thing in 19th/20th century technology still delivers the goods.