4x5 for fashion. Do I stick with my rail camera or try one of the wide rangefinders

[mcherry]

I've spent a lot of time shooting technical cameras for product, still life and some portraiture. Ocassionally I try my hand at landscapes, but they're really not my thing.

Anywho, I have a book project coming up that I was first anticipating shooting with Medium Format Digital, however, I'm not sure I want that look (I prefer the look of 6x7 and larger, and the smaller sensor doesn't give that sense of dimensionality, at least to me). This has lead me to thinking about shooting it on film, either 6x7 or 4x5.

While I've shot a number of large format portraits, they were all traditional portraits, framed fairly tight. For these shots I will be shooting them much more wide as we will be building sets and using multiple models (think cinema still). My biggest concerns are lens selection and being able to carry my DOF enough (which also encompasses lighting issues). In conjunction with the book there will be two gallery shows and the curator wants the prints to be printed BIG. I routinely print 20x25 but they want stuff measuring in feet not inches (as big as six feet on the long end). This is what's leading me to consider large format film. The chromes will be drum scanned so that they can be retouched and will be printed as Digital C prints and face mounted to plexi.

I started looking at some "wide" rangefinder type cameras (for example the Cambo Wide DS and the Fotoman) but honestly I know nothing about them and after a few google searches, still feel like I'm walking in the dark. Any information, resources or advice would be extremely welcome.

Kindest regards,

Matthew Cherry

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Wow. Sounds like you might even have your expenses covered. Monorail. 8x10, if they'll go for it, 4x5 if out of pocket. Oh, and forget chromes and shoot color negs, provided you've got a scanner operator who works in a 16 bit color space.

[Daniel Stone]

sounds like a job for shooting 8x10 .

At the least, to insure the best quality, I'd go 4x5 MINIMUM.

chrome is still easily available(think Fuji only), and having quality drum scans done of your photographs will help insure maximum "wow" factor it sounds like this curator is after.

-Dan

[mcherry]

I've actually considered color neg as I've always liked Provia for skin tones, but I'm more accustomed to shooting chromes and always thought they scanned better? I only scan a little bit myself on either an Epson 750 or an Immacon, but for real work, I get a drum scan from Duggal's, so I don't really know myself. I only scan myself to share stuff online.

[mcherry]

While I have a fair bit of experience shooting 4x5, I've only ever shot 8x19 once and I don't have any kit for it. Medium format would be easy as I have a number of cameras I could choose from. In LF I have a Cambo Master 4x5 which I love dearly, but then I say these handleld "wide" 4x5 cameras and they looked a bit like a LF rangefinder, which, if I am understanding that point currently, would make them awesome. Also considering an old press camera.

I've had carefully taken shots on 6x6 blown up to three feet and sell for very good money, so I'm not worried about the quality print from a 4x5.

[Jeff Keller]

If you are building sets and using studio lights, I don't think the portability of a handheld 4x5 would be worth the trade-offs. A 4x5 enlarged to 5 feet would be a 12x enlargement. That is quite a bit of enlargement for handheld in anything but bright light. The earlier suggestion to use 8x10 is surely worth considering. A 6x enlargement of a carefully done image (tripod etc) could be sharp at book reading distances and would be pretty impressive.

If there is a lot of action, strobes could freeze the subject movement.

Jeff Keller

... For these shots I will be shooting them much more wide as we will be building sets and using multiple models (think cinema still). My biggest concerns are lens selection and being able to carry my DOF enough (which also encompasses lighting issues). In conjunction with the book there will be two gallery shows and the curator wants the prints to be printed BIG. I routinely print 20x25 but they want stuff measuring in feet not inches (as big as six feet on the long end). This is what's leading me to consider large format film. The chromes will be drum scanned so that they can be retouched and will be printed as Digital C prints and face mounted to plexi.
...

Kindest regards,

Matthew Cherry

[mcherry]

I started looking to see if I could get an 8x10 Cambo Master rear standard for my 4x5 but I don't seem to be able to? I wonder if I could just remove the 4x5 back and put an 8x10 back on there?

[Nathan Potter]

From what you describe I'd work with power strobes to freeze motion and stick with 4X5 with something from 120mm to say 210mm lens if you need a wide to medium view. 8X10 may be too shallow in DOF for what it sounds like you want to do. A hand held 4X5 with strobes would do wonders and allow you to move around a bit.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[mcherry]

The DOF was my biggest concern - even at 4x5, which is what I'm going to focus on. I have two lenses for this camera now, a 210 and a 90. I will look into the 120. Any other focal lengths you would recommend for full length and wide shots?

[Alan Gales]

I started looking to see if I could get an 8x10 Cambo Master rear standard for my 4x5 but I don't seem to be able to? I wonder if I could just remove the 4x5 back and put an 8x10 back on there?

I'm familiar with the 4x5 "L" standard Cambo Master but I have never seen an 8x10 version.