PDA

View Full Version : Any 5x7 color shooters here?



Daniel Stone
30-Mar-2013, 23:50
Not that it'd keep me from moving down in formats from 8x10 to 5x7, I've decided to go ahead with that decision.

Just wondering if anyone here might have had the same realization, that 8x10 was just "too much", and 4x5 was "too little" size-wise :)

I have a buttload of 8x10 film I can cut down, so I'm set for film, but just thought I'd ask!

cheers,
Dan

gliderbee
31-Mar-2013, 01:15
Not that it'd keep me from moving down in formats from 8x10 to 5x7, I've decided to go ahead with that decision.

Just wondering if anyone here might have had the same realization, that 8x10 was just "too much", and 4x5 was "too little" size-wise :)

I have a buttload of 8x10 film I can cut down, so I'm set for film, but just thought I'd ask!

cheers,
Dan

Yes, l had the same feeling: 5x7 is a great compromise, BUT I 'm still impressed when I look at a 8x10 negative, and 4x5 is a handy, small format as I'm at the Academy and there's only one 5x7 enlarger but more 4x5 enlargers. So I have a Toyo 57G and a ShenHao 5x7, buth both also with reducing backs. My Toyo 810M and 810G are not used much (and sometimes I feel a bit guilty about that :-)).

Stefan

Gudmundur Ingolfsson
31-Mar-2013, 05:52
5x7" is great for color negativ. But there are two catches. The 160 Portra is relativly expensive at B&H and the proportions of almost 2:3 are not as "intense" as the 4:5 of the 8x10" or 4x5". On the other hand I have made prints up to 7 feet in length both from 8x10" and 5x7" negatives and the quality is very similar.

Jim Becia
31-Mar-2013, 08:23
Not that it'd keep me from moving down in formats from 8x10 to 5x7, I've decided to go ahead with that decision.

Just wondering if anyone here might have had the same realization, that 8x10 was just "too much", and 4x5 was "too little" size-wise :)

I have a buttload of 8x10 film I can cut down, so I'm set for film, but just thought I'd ask!

cheers,
Dan


Dan,

While I continue to shoot mostly 8x10, I always have my 5x7 along as my lightweight camera when I want to hike longer distances. It's a 5x7 but I also have a 4x5 back for it, so it is able to do double duty. I usually cut come 8x10 down and that has not been a problem. I find myself usually cropping the 5x7 down to 5x6.25 which gives me the same proportion as 8x10. For some reason, I just seem to "see" in that proportion. The images I've printed from the 5x7 seem to match 8x10 in sharpness up to about 32x40, at least to me. Very little difference. Haven't taken 5x7 beyond that yet, while 8x10 I've taken to the max of my printer which is about 44x55. If I had to give up the 8x10, I would most definitely shoot 5x7. But that 8x10 ground glass is so seductive and so is an 8x10 chrome on the light table.

ROL
31-Mar-2013, 08:42
Not that it'd keep me from moving down in formats from 8x10 to 5x7, I've decided to go ahead with that decision.

Just wondering if anyone here might have had the same realization, that 8x10 was just "too much", and 4x5 was "too little" size-wise :)

I have a buttload of 8x10 film I can cut down, so I'm set for film, but just thought I'd ask!

cheers,
Dan

Yep, 5x7 was juuuuuuuust right. Most of the color I have left is cut down from expired E100VS 8x10, so you should be good to go (2...2 for the price of 1!). But truthfully, I rarely shoot color film at all anymore. For me, color has become too much the domain of digital and making a fine print from shoot to print is a process I no longer find to be justified.

Daniel Stone
31-Mar-2013, 09:16
Hey Gudmundur!
Thought you might chime in here :)
I'd love to be able to optically print 5x7 color, alas the photo center locally only provides 4x5 enlargers.
So it'll be drum scans and digital c-prints for me I guess. Not a bad solution, but I do love the analog process more.

-Dan

Scott Davis
1-Apr-2013, 09:35
I've been really enjoying the 5x7 color neg work I've been doing. It's a great format, IMHO, not only from the size but also the proportion. I just bit the bullet and got two boxes of Portra because they had it on sale at B&H, and I'm going to try doing a portrait project with it. I'm another one who will be doing a blended workflow and scanning to print digitally.

boswald
1-Apr-2013, 14:09
In my weird brain, when I see a subject I see a framing of either 2x3 proportions(35,6x9,5x7) or 4x5(&8x10). Even if I'm shooting square. In the Ciba days I shot a lot of 5x7 Ektachrome. In a nice wood lightbox frame I like it better than an 8x10. You stand quite close, and it's as if you are falling into it. You stand further from an 8x10 and it's just a different experience. I also like a 5x7 contact matted to 8 or 10 by 12. I do view lower on the wall than I used to, but I think that's just the bifocals 'talking'.