Please show your 6x17 pictures

[Scott Walker]

Gotta chime in...............I actually laughed out loud when I read that 6x17 was only acceptable as large format if you purchased the right camera to shoot it with.
If the format is acceptable with a dedicated size view camera such as the ShenHao TFC617 how can it not be with a Fotoman, that is like saying that any camera without the ability to adjust the film and lens plane such as an 8x10 pinhole is medium format.

I have no problem with you limiting the definition of large format to a specific minimum size of film such as 4x5 but do not tell me what brand of camera I have to use.

[Steve M Hostetter]

When you buy a roll of 120 or 220 film it doesn't say large format film on the package.

It says medium format film for medium format cameras. The fact that you can only get 4 exposures on one roll doesn't make it a different film. The fact that you use a LF camera to shoot the roll film doesn't change the film either.

[cjbroadbent]

well anyway... Segesta in Sicily.

[IanG]

What a farce we can post 6x7 & 6x9 images made with a Field/Technical camera, and often using the same (6x7) back as an Mamiya RB67.

6x17 is a Large format regardless of the camera used, if one type of camera is allowed so must the rest. That's not the same as saying any 6x7 or 6x9 image is large format.

Any image made with a converted Polaroid camera should also be banned as that is not a Large Format camera by the moderators definitions. It's a rangefinder polaroid camera.

Next you'll tell me my 9x12 and quarter plate cameras aren't large format.

Ian

[Bryan Lemasters]

When you buy a roll of 120 or 220 film it doesn't say large format film on the package.

Nope, sure doesn't.

It says medium format film for medium format cameras. The fact that you can only get 4 exposures on one roll doesn't make it a different film. The fact that you use a LF camera to shoot the roll film doesn't change the film either.

Hmm. No, none of the rolls of 120 film that I have say "medium format film for medium format cameras". Film type is not the deciding factor. This is the Large Format PHOTOGRAPHY Forum, not the Large Format FILM Forum.

I understand the controversy here and - being a 6x17/6x18 shooter - have mixed feelings about them myself, but the moderators have spoken. Over and over they have spoken. Only images using large format film or large format cameras using roll film holders (regardless of size) should be posted in the regular forum. Others have to be posted in the lounge. Maybe some of it seems a bit arbitrary, but that's often the way it is in the real world. So why are we still having this argument. The horse in laying motionless on the ground, it's gut is swollen to 3 times it's normal size, buzzards are flying overhead, flies are buzzing about, and the stench is beginning to get unbearable. Clearly the horse is dead. So why are so many still trying to put a saddle on it???????

Having said that, I very much enjoyed Shailendra's pics and also would like to see them re-posted. I don't personally have a problem with them in the regular forum but if it has to be in the lounge, then so be it.

OBTW, nice image, Christopher! Thanks for posting it.

[Kirk Gittings]

I did not invent this definition. It was the operating definition when I joined this forum-long before I became a moderator and this remains the consensus of the moderators and and the owner.

The moderators should be embarrassed by their existing definition of what constitutes large format. Who ever heard of a double standard like this (617 size is large format, but only with the right type of camera)? It is actually funny that adults can come up with this kind of stuff. This is the best the moderators could do? Kirk had the audacity to insult us by calling us uniformed, when it is the moderators that are themselves uninformed and confused . It is a strange message you are sending the community when you allow endless discussions on 617 dedicated cameras produced by Fotoman/Gaoersi/Fuji/Technorama/Widepan (as well as 617 field cameras by Ebony and Shen Hao), but at the same time do not allow the images to be posted from these same cameras. Whether I crop from 5x7 to 617, or buy a specialized 617 roll film camera should not matter, and is my business......the end result is the same. I still get 7 inches of film length and the same print size. I am not going to start shooting 617 roll backs on a 5x7 or 4x5 camera and be inconvenienced (weight, bulk, loss of wide lenses when using 617 roll back on 4x5) just to satisfy a bunch of moderators with strange ideas. The 617 film format, however you cut it (from 120 roll, 4x5 aerial roll, sheet film, etc), is always going to be 617........this is so basic. There is no arguing this, and since you allow discussions on 617 dedicated cameras, and allow images from 617 roll backs, then it's time you clean up your standing definition and allow images from 617 dedicated cameras. It definitely needs fixing. Kirk says 617 is definitely medium format by any definition....really? Have you "ever" seen a medium format camera mfr (eg- Hasselblad/Mamiya/Bronica/Rollei/etc) produce a 617 format camera?

[IanG]

A point no-one has raised is that to print a 6x17 negative requires a Large format enlarger not medium format.

The debate re-opened Bryan because moderators stepped in, and as was said below there's little logic.

The moderators should be embarrassed by their existing definition of what constitutes large format. Who ever heard of a double standard like this (617 size is large format, but only with the right type of camera)? It is actually funny that adults can come up with this kind of stuff.

The whole issue needs a serious rethink to get rid of the illogical double standards. Sometimes there need to be exceptions to hard & fast rules.

Ian

[CarstenW]

Kirk, rather than deleting a bunch of enjoyable photos, how about using the rule to push this thread into a forum where it is allowed, with a note left behind for those puzzled?

[Lachlan 717]

When you buy a roll of 120 or 220 film it doesn't say large format film on the package.

It says medium format film for medium format cameras. The fact that you can only get 4 exposures on one roll doesn't make it a different film. The fact that you use a LF camera to shoot the roll film doesn't change the film either.

Steve,

I have to call you on this claim (well, as far as Fuji Velvia, Provia, Astia and Acros is concerned). I checked both the individual roll packets and the Pro Packs I have here, and there is no mention of format AT ALL on them. So, can you please back this up with where you read this?

[dave_whatever]

When you buy a roll of 120 or 220 film it doesn't say large format film on the package.

Neither does it say "large format film" on a box of 4x5 Velvia. Looks like we're all shit out of luck.