Is large format photography on the rise?

[Chris Wong]

My only exposure to other large format photographers is this forum and I don't know anybody personally who uses a large format camera in my circle of friends. I don't feel like it is on the rise and I base that on watching the buy/sell ads on this forum. The large format stuff isn't moving as fast as it used to and sellers seem to be getting rid of their whole outfit meaning to me that they are getting out of large format. Just my observation for the last 1/2 year or so. Again, my opinion is only based on watching the buy/sell ads.

[Kuzano]

UP... but where?

I've been selling film photography gear for about 8 years on eBay. Mixed merchandise, but good equipment and particularly Large Format gear has been selling fast.. usually on the first post, and prices are up. That's an answer from my own personal experience.

However, most of the large format gear is going over big waters. In fact, my four last sizeable sales have been for good prices and have gone to Federation of Russia. Many asian country purchases... Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and so on. Most of these sales have been Large Format. I've attempted to restrict International sale, but when they ask and feedback is good.... I relent. These people are paying my prices... not auction prices. I also get that most of these people are going to use the gear.

Yes...up. Even good known well maintained Medium Format, and quality 35mm merchandises are moving well for me at profitable prices. 35mm lenses that were popular with film and qualify as "legacy" Manual Focus lenses for mirrorless digital are HOT merchandise. Rising prices there. You can almost throw away the bodies to make the entire deal about the lens, and reduce shipping. I generally put a working but not so attractive lens on the 35mm bodies and donate them to the local Community College film classes, which are FULL running twice every quarter. WIN, WIN, WIN, WIN!!!

[Andrew O'Neill]

Let's hope it's on the "rise"

and not on the "fall",

clearly there's been a "shift",

so best to "swing" with it

until there's a "tilt" !

[genotypewriter]

Is large format photography on the rise?

I am intrigued because a dealer friend of mine is saying that he is getting more requests for modern 4x5 cameras.

And my current observations are that LF lenses aren't getting cheaper.

...Vick

I asked the same question in a different way:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/largefo...7630037748627/

[Kodachrome25]

Wow, lot of unfounded good ol boy attitude towards "newbies" in this thread, way to go guys....

[Sylvester Graham]

I think it's good if more people are considering slowing down their process, even if it means going Lf. That being said I wonder what percent of all photographers shoot Lf gear. 1%? I'm thinking more like a tenth of one percent. With such small numbers it doesn't take a whole lot of new LF shooters to increase demand to the point where it overwhelms the few dealers who sell LF gear.

[Sylvester Graham]

Wow, lot of unfounded good ol boy attitude towards "newbies" in this thread, way to go guys....

+1.

[Bill_1856]

There's more shooting, less darkroom. Digital printing has taken a lot of the drudgery out of large format. I expect that the loss of Polaroid probably nearly delt it a body blow.

[tgtaylor]

Not on this site where large format photography is on the decline. For example, a forum moderator, supported by other members, recently asserted that camera phones are practically equivalent to the view camera and other long standing members routinely bash traditional photographic methods as inferior. Even the forum's founder, QT Luong, has admitted that he no longer shoots film which he considers inferior to digital capture. Consider the post above where large format photography is described as “drudgery.”

Thomas

[RichardSperry]

As noted above... A symptom of the inkjet generation and the (readily available) capability we have to make giant size prints (whether graphic or photographic).

After visiting four photography exhibitions today, two at the de Young and two at SFMoMA; I would say the trend for large mural sized prints apparently started on the 80s.

And they were all chromogenic prints, not inkjet. Notably Cindy Sherman and Andreas Gursky. And the 2000's stuff is absolutely huge. While not represented in the exhibits I saw today, Spencer Tunick prints large to huge as well. With Sherman and Tunick shooting MF and Gursky shooting 4x5.

I doubt that galleries are buying these very large prints, I am sure they are selling them. That is to say that buyers are buying very large prints.