Why Large Format?

[pepeguitarra]

I just finished reading an article by Ted Harris on the View Camera Magazine (Jan/Feb 2006 Issue) titled: Why Large Format?. Ted described the different types of people who may choose large format photography, according to his personal opinion. Although I think he could have extended the classification, I agree with the ones he described. I think I fall in two of the categories (because of my dual work activities). I am going to refer to only one, I invite you to describe your own motives if you want. I think I fit in the PHOTO MATH MAN classification.

Here is a description of what he said: "Not to be confused with the technician, these are the scientists and engineers, those with an interest in (nay, a passion for) mathematics and the sciences. Large format photography appeals to them exactly because of the self-imposed dictum that the successful image requires applying complex formulae to various steps of the process. All of the geometry and trigonometry and calculus behind the Scheimpflung Principle, Merklinger's Hinge, lens formulae, the calculations for the Zone System or BTZS, lighting calculations, the chemistry of development, reading densitometry from a negative or a scan -- all are the staff of life to those with a scientific bent. These applications are not as reserved for the obsessive-compulsive as they may seem; properly applied, they can lead to better images. For the Photo Math Man, the primary appeal of photography in general, and large format photography specifically, is the need (as they would say) or the ability (as others would say) to use scientific methods, precise measurements, and intricate calculations in the exposure and processing. All the numerology that was once part of all photography, and has now been replaced by automatic digital, chip-managed controls on the smaller formats, is still very much as part of our large format world......"

[Ben Calwell]

I'm definitely not the Photo Math Man. I chose large format photography more than 40 years ago because of its ability to produce wonderful, grain-free, detailed images. I studied the Zone System, but did not become a serious, test-obsessed technician. I took my own approach to it, developing a system that works for me. I like the measured, slow approach that large format photography invites, and I like seeing an image on a big ground glass. I can see where LF photography would appeal to math-minded folks, but as a I guy who barely escaped high school algebra with a "D," I'm glad that I was able to feel instantly comfortable when I first set up an old Graflex monorail camera. And as for Scheimpflug, I just watch the image on the ground glass as I make my adjustments -- geometry and trig never cross my mind.

[Alan9940]

Couldn't have said it better than Ben! After shooting LF for 40 years (like Ben), I never tire of the view on the groundglass; especially 8x10! I suppose that's why 8x10 has been my primary format all those years. Forget the math...enjoy the process.

[Per Madsen]

Large Format photography are photography's answer to Slow Food.

It is not the nutrition, but the creation process (and the eating and conversation afterwards) which is the purpose.

[Tin Can]

Because it still exists

Despite all attacks

It's odd now and I always choose odd

It's definitely performative art for me, the print is darn near a byproduct, but not quite as I like my prints regardless as I have room to improve

LF saved my life and gives me a task every day

art not art

same same

and a Deardorff S11 Studio camera is very hard to steal :)

[Two23]

I choose it for three reasons:

1. I love using really old lenses. It's a historical connection.
2. I often choose the unbeaten path. I want to be different from the cell phone herd.
3. I enjoy the challenge.


Kent in SD

[Leigh]

I started shooting LF 60 years ago (1960) for sports because that's what the newspaper wanted.

I've continued with it over the years because I like the extraordinary quality and exquisite detail.

- Leigh

[Mark Crabtree]

It is nice to know there are some other folks here that have a less tech heavy approach to large format.

[Kiwi7475]

For me it is because you ultimately have full control over every aspect of the process of composing, taking and developing the picture. That control requires knowledge and skill and it is both fun, challenging and tantalizing.

[Jim Noel]

I was given my first LF camera in 1937 by a friend who was a free lance news photographer. He taught me to load the film and process it for contact printing. HIs message was ,"take what you want, not what others say." I have been doing it ever since. I have tried many smaller formats and they bored me, as did color. I take pride in knowing that I have taught a few hundred people its joys and trials.

[pepeguitarra]

The article described other types of people, I am sure if someone has the magazine issue will see it too. I will try to copy another one to discuss. I said two reason guided me to LF, one could have been the Photo Math, but I think it was more the artisan part of it or Technician. Let me go back in time. About 20 years ago I decided I was going to learn to play classical guitar and bought a cheap guitar. The good ones were too expensive. However, I bought one beat up and decided to fix it. At the end of the 20 years, I was a rather good guitar maker, but have yet to learn to play guitar. I am afraid the same thing is happening with photography. I now have a passion for old wooden cameras, I fix/refurbish them, and instead of selling them, I keep them. ;). Then, I met Jim Fitzgerald, who encouraged me to build a 16x20. He is a camera maker himself. So, I have to stop that, and try to burn some of the 300 sheets of film I have acquired (8x10, 5x7 and 4x5). I only learned about LF about 3 years ago. I was familiar with film since the 1960s, but was never curious about LF. I thought it was dead long time ago. Yesterday, while shooting at a creek in a local regional park, several families were camping and approached me with questions like: Are you a surveyor?, are you measuring something? So, the whole day went into demonstrating how the camera works. I was able to shoot 4 shots with my newly refurbished 5x7 Korona Field Camera 1908, during those 6 hours I spent at the park.
BTW, since I only have one lens board and the lens that came with it. I was able to clean the Ilex #3 ACME Synchro shutter and make it work within acceptable speeds. I enjoyed shooting with only one lens, it is wonderful. You don't have to worry about changing lens, you select your composition with that lens in mind and that is all.

[PRJ]

Bigger negative. Any other reason has little to do with photography.

[Mark Sawyer]

Why Large Format? For the best reason of all...

Because I want to.

[Mark Sampson]

Ted Harris was a frequent contributor here before his untimely demise. You might look around for his threads and comments.
I shoot large format for its ability to render light, air, and detail. 25 years of professional practice and even longer personal experience has made it almost second nature... but I'm still learning as I go.

[bloodhoundbob]

I flunked Geometry in HS and received a D in Algebra in HS and college, so I guess math was not my impetus.

[pepeguitarra]

Does anyone feel the Scheimpflug Principle is one of the greatest thing of Large Format? To me, it is magic. To be able to swing, tilt, shift, to obtain a perfect focus on a particular subject independently of the depth of field is really one of the largest benefits of LF photography.

[Merg Ross]

Photography chose me at the age of 12. As the son of a photographer, I was surrounded by those who expressed their vision with large format cameras. At the time, I didn't know that an alternative existed. It was such a simple process, even the math seemed elementary. There were those who wanted to complicate the process, Ansel comes to mind, and those who didn't use a light meter, Brett Weston comes to mind. I loved the ability to explore an image of twenty square inches under the solitude of a darkcloth, make an exposue, and have a silver print a few hours later. For me, it was never the mechanics of getting there. Sixty-five years later, this afternoon, I still experienced that youthful excitement. Keep it simple.

[rdeloe]

Large format film photography is an anachronism. I love it, but I don't do it for technical reasons. For ME, there are no technical advantages that make it worth the extra bother. I also shoot with an APS-C based tilt-shift setup on digital cameras. Using the movements I can get on my tilt-shift adapter, focus stacking software, HDR and stitching, I don't need my 4x5 camera to make the photographs I want to make. It's not even expensive with my APS-C setup. If I needed a more capable digital setup with movements, Canon's amazing tilt-shift lenses on a full frame sensor are spectacular. And that's just using current technology.

So if I can do what I want to do with digital photography, why am I humping around a 25 lb backpack with a view camera? Off the top of my head I have a few reasons (none of which are logical or particularly technical):

* Film photography produces a physical thing, the negative. I like that. Even if I scan the negative and process in Lightroom, I still have the negative. I was there, and this is what the camera recorded on this plastic material. Digital also produces a kind of "negative" -- the RAW file. But somehow film seems more real to me. I know that my view camera doesn't have a computer that did things to what the lens imaged on the film (which is what happens with RAW files -- you're at the mercy of the choices of anonymous software engineers).

* I use a hybrid workflow (film then scanning and Lightroom). If I'm going to put up with the hassle of analog, I want a bigger payoff. Small film formats don't give me the image quality I desire. I could probably be happy with 6x9, but 4x5 gives me more to work with, plus camera movements (which I use extensively). For a hybrid workflow like mine, large format is the way to go, and 4x5 is the sweet spot.

* Analog large format is future proof because it's a technological dead end; it's not going to change in any meaningful ways. Digital photography, on the other hand, is constantly changing. And it's taking photography to places I'm probably not going to like the older I get. There's nothing wrong with that kind of technological development -- it's normal and natural. I'm still going to shoot digital, but in a rapidly changing world, it's nice to have something that is standing still so that I can push the technological developments to the background and focus more on making pictures. That's large format photography with film.

[Tin Can]

This! per rdeloe,

"* Analog large format is future proof because it's a technological dead end"

Yes!

[Drew Wiley]

rdloe -if you want to talk about the horse race of technology, just remember that "analog" photography, as you call it (I prefer just to call it photography,period) has a 150 year head start in this race, so mere speed of alleged improvements doesn't tell the whole story. And I think, visually, large format film photography is still way ahead if optimal quality rather than mere convenience is what is in mind. And for me, personally, trying to keep up with constantly shifting hardware and software, which becomes rapidly obsolete by design, is a lot more fuss and headache than doing what I already know and am equipped to do. But as far as dead ends go, there is a point at which the sheer R&D expense that goes into modern digital printing has to be recouped at some point, and that it too will hit inevitable plateaus of performance which essentially stall. I think that is already happening to some extent with inkjet technology. It will show steady minor improvements, like C-printing did during its evolution; but basically, it's already reached a "good enough" level from a marketing standpoint, and that level is a qualitative step backwards from what traditional color reproduction can potential do in the right hands. Convenience has always ruled the masses, not quality. George Eastman got rich figuring that out. So I am quite grateful for what you express as a "dead end". It's more like a living end. I will end long before my large format cameras, enlargers, and lenses even begin to wear out. Besides, artists will always rebel against the routine. There is great appeal in tactile processes rather than just pushing buttons. But this is a remarkable era in which you can have your cake and eat it too, if hybrid technique appeals to you.

[Salmo22]

In the late 1940's my father began shooting large format in the Air Force (4x5 Speed Graphics & K20's). After his military career was over, he became a professional photographer that often shot large format for weddings, portraits, commercial work, etc. His Linhof was a workhorse for many years. He put a lot of food on the table with that camera. Eventually he went to medium format, but he always had a 4x5 around - just in case. As a youngster, I was weaned on a 4x5 both for shooting and in the darkroom. While I've enjoyed dalliances with medium format film and digital cameras, I always come back to large format. I love all the movements, the process of taking a single image, and having a more thoughtful approach to each scene - but that big negative is the main drug for me.

[Larry Gebhardt]

I picked up large format after l got back into photography. I had initially used 35mm and a cheap Seagull TLR in high school, but put it aside when I went to college. The birth of the kids had me buy a fancy new AF Nikon which I used for snapshots, but also started back with the landscapes and city shots (more buildings than people on the street). I was still not really satisfied with the prints from this, despite the fancy new camera. The internet allowed me to discover large format (and way too many medium format cameras) in a quest to get my artistic vision onto paper. Lately digital has gotten good enough that I'm happy with the results for even larger prints, but I still pull out the analog cameras, especially the 4x5 and 5x7, when I have the urge to shoot. I also prefer to print black and white in the darkroom, but scanning and inkjet are also a passion. Either way I choose to print many of the best results seem to originate on sheet film.

Based on all that it sounds like I'd fit into Ted's Artist category, but I'd say I'm at least as much a Technician in my interests. I like building things, and darkroom equipment and cameras are fun toys with lots of opportunities for improvements and experimentation. The trick for me is to make the art dominate, since that's what keeps me interested and shooting long term. But messing with cameras, developers, scanners, LED printing heads, timers, printers and custom ink sets is serious competition for the little bit of free time I can find. My best work is done when I take the time to understand the technology, but then stop and use that knowledge to make art.

[Leigh]

Large format is unpopular with the modern generation because you must think about what you're doing and know what you're doing. It's not a one-second tap on a cell phone.

- Leigh

[rdeloe]

I hope nobody thinks I used “dead end” in a pejorative sense. Those of us who love it will practice large format film photography until we can’t get the tools we need anymore. Thankfully there’s a vast amount of gear out there on the used market. Anyone who wants to shoot large format will be able to do so for a very long time… as long as someone makes film (and paper if you wet print). My point, though, was simply that I’m not seeing any new developments in the technology—so it’s a “dead end” (or sunset technology if you prefer). Mind you, I don’t think we really need new developments in the technology of large format photography, so it’s all good.

I’d argue that photography using what most people who have been into photography for a while would consider a “camera” is at more risk of disappearing in the next couple decades. It will be interesting to see how long the major camera manufacturers can keep making and selling new cameras given that for the vast majority of people who make photographs, the only camera they’ll ever have or use is the one in their phone. But that’s another topic.



rdloe -if you want to talk about the horse race of technology, just remember that "analog" photography, as you call it (I prefer just to call it photography,period) has a 150 year head start in this race, so mere speed of alleged improvements doesn't tell the whole story. And I think, visually, large format film photography is still way ahead if optimal quality rather than mere convenience is what is in mind. And for me, personally, trying to keep up with constantly shifting hardware and software, which becomes rapidly obsolete by design, is a lot more fuss and headache than doing what I already know and am equipped to do. But as far as dead ends go, there is a point at which the sheer R&D expense that goes into modern digital printing has to be recouped at some point, and that it too will hit inevitable plateaus of performance which essentially stall. I think that is already happening to some extent with inkjet technology. It will show steady minor improvements, like C-printing did during its evolution; but basically, it's already reached a "good enough" level from a marketing standpoint, and that level is a qualitative step backwards from what traditional color reproduction can potential do in the right hands. Convenience has always ruled the masses, not quality. George Eastman got rich figuring that out. So I am quite grateful for what you express as a "dead end". It's more like a living end. I will end long before my large format cameras, enlargers, and lenses even begin to wear out. Besides, artists will always rebel against the routine. There is great appeal in tactile processes rather than just pushing buttons. But this is a remarkable era in which you can have your cake and eat it too, if hybrid technique appeals to you.

[Ken Lee]

I invite you to describe your own motives if you want.

Because of the intangibles.

[Tin Can]

Ken is nailing it here and by his latest posting in Abstracts.

That last one is awe inspiring!

[Drew Wiley]

I disagree with the notion young people are not going to get into or continue the legacy of large format photography. They just need to get exposed to it. Just like our Baby Boomer generation rebelled against all the "ticky-tacky little boxes" suburb culture and went off to start a counter-culture, I imagine some the children of today's electronics gadget addicts will rebel and want to do something creative with their hands instead. I get young people politely asking about my large format gear and darkroom methods all the time around here, out on the trails. The big issue is simply the affordability of real estate space suitable to a darkroom. Even the 20-something down the street who normally works on boat or car engines in the driveway walked out of there one day with a flea-market wooden 4x5 and old wood tripod to experiment with - and you don't usually associate beer-guzzling grease monkeys with that kind of thing. I never asked him about it afterwards. Even his skill as a mechanic is so-so. One time he and his brother managed to burn down both the garage and the same expensive speedboat they had spent months working on. But it's the attitude that counts. Old wooden camera can be downright cool, and not just to us ole geezers. At the local camera store, classic used vintage film cameras even in the 35mm category still sell almost as briskly as new digital versions; and certain people strongly prefer them.

[Leszek Vogt]

Good enough for me.

Les

[Charles S]

I am 52, so I suppose I count as the young generation on this forum. I grew up with analog and then moved to digital, but it never satisfied me the same way.

A couple of years ago I got back into analogue and slid into the pit of LF; 8x10 that is, shooting mostly studio portraiture. Recently I picked up a 4x5 for location shoots.

I like LF because is is slow, it is deliberate, it is classic, it is difficult the movements allow to use focus as well as lighting to draw attention to the features you want to highlight, and the results are different enough to make it worthwhile and a good image gives a sense of achievement that makes it all worthwhile

[Pere Casals]

I guess that images are better than words to explain it. Many single images are able to explain it. For example this one: http://100photos.time.com/photos/richard-avedon-dovima-with-elephants

LF is not better or worse than a DSLR or an smartphone. But LF contains a set of unique tools to make art.

No problem with digital or hybrid... but a pure optical process is something amazing, software is powerful and makes all easy, but to make a Pietà the powerful way is taking a hammer and hitting a boulder.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Large format is unpopular with the modern generation because you must think about what you're doing and know what you're doing. It's not a one-second tap on a cell phone.

I loaned a Deardorff V8 to an instructor to show to his freshman photo class. He had it on a tripod, popped off the back and students exclaimed, "Why it's empty!"

[Tin Can]

Not empty, that is the image transmission space that also adjusts time...

Teach didn't know how to stick his s**t to the wall...


I loaned a Deardorff V8 to an instructor to show to his freshman photo class. He had it on a tripod, popped off the back and students exclaimed, "Why it's empty!"

[Pere Casals]

"Why it's empty!"

:)

[pepeguitarra]

... "Why it's empty!"

Do you know we are time travelers? Most of us are traveling at 1 hour per hour.

[Bernice Loui]

Singularity Inside...

Bernice




"Why it's empty!"

[Graham Patterson]

Once the camera is set up and pointed the right way, it contains potential photography. Rather like taking water up hill imbues it with potential energy...8-)

[Drew Wiley]

By young people I mean everyone capable of looking behind a darkcloth, ranging from six years of age up to whatever. But it's lots of teenagers and twenty-somethings that most often ask a lot of sincere questions when they see one of my big cameras propped up. And then there is the older crowd who themselves dabbled in it once and might want to get back in upon retirement; they generally ask if the film is still available. There was an another interesting photo documentary on PBS the other night about some Life magazine photographer whose name I didn't even recognize, a long-time Leicaphile who has since gone to digi point n shoot. He made a remark on the interview that is Ansel Adams were still alive, that's how he would do it today. I don't know why everyone has to constantly defer to AA, especially when they happen to work in an entirely different genre, in this case, photojournalism. But I thought to myself, yeah, sure ... and if AA had gone that route instead of a slow big view camera, would we even recognize his name today? Or even remember any iconic images from him? His career would just be one more drop in the bucket, or another just ignored website among the millions, with a bunch of fuzzy little images.

[Jac@stafford.net]

I find it friendly and amusing that so very many espouse 'slow photography' imposed by large format. Frankly, due to mobility handicaps slow is all I can do, so thank you all for the cover story.

[Drew Wiley]

To bad that when that instructor put his head inside the camera it didn't have a guillotine shutter installed.

[MAubrey]

Large format is unpopular with the modern generation because you must think about what you're doing and know what you're doing. It's not a one-second tap on a cell phone.

- Leigh
Hey, now. Don't sell us short with tropes & clichés!

[Tin Can]

The old always say, 'Youth is wasted on the young."

Trouble is, I still think I am 16, on the inside...

Ah, my youth was fun! For a while...

You are only as pretty as you feel. Jefferson Airplane. (https://youtu.be/5dbshnvztGA)


Hey, now. Don't sell us short with tropes & clichés!

[robbiemcclaran]

Large format is unpopular with the modern generation because you must think about what you're doing and know what you're doing. It's not a one-second tap on a cell phone.

- Leigh

Some of the finest large format photographers working are in the "modern generation". The popularity of analog processes among millennial photographers plays a large roll in keeping those processes from going extinct. Here in Portland when Newspace Center for Photography was forced to close due to lack of funding, it was a group of young photographers who purchased the darkroom equipment and established The Portland Darkroom a cooperative public darkroom rental space.

[Bernice Loui]

Harvey Milk Photo Center in San Francisco carries on the SF tradition of group darkroom sharing to this day:
http://harveymilkphotocenter.org

Being in San Francisco back in those great days of film and more was a special and memorable experience in many ways.
That was a time when Eastman Kodak had a office near Ghirardelli Square. South of Market was a hot bed of creative artistic Fotographic image making from Fashion to Ads to Portraits to Architecture to "Fine Art" and a LOT more.


Bernice



Some of the finest large format photographers working are in the "modern generation". The popularity of analog processes among millennial photographers plays a large roll in keeping those processes from going extinct. Here in Portland when Newspace Center for Photography was forced to close due to lack of funding, it was a group of young photographers who purchased the darkroom equipment and established The Portland Darkroom a cooperative public darkroom rental space.

[robbiemcclaran]

For me the answer is not really about sharpness or clarity. New digital tools, especially medium format, are certainly up to the task of creating brilliantly sharp and clear photographs. But there is a subtle yet distinct way a large format photograph looks. The combination of longer focal length lenses exposing images on larger negatives just looks different. I am a fan of historic documentary photographs, the kind you might see on display in a small town cafe that were made around the turn of the century. Here in the Northwest they often showcase logging or shipping operations and elsewhere in the country other types of industrial or commercial operations. The look and feel of those images just flips several of my switches. And when making a portrait, the presence of that big camera commands a special level of attention from a subject. They take a look and realize you are serious about the work you are doing.

[John Kasaian]

It's fun.
In a Marquis de Sade sort of way with an 8x10, says my ruptured lumbar discs.

[Alan Gales]

It's fun.
In a Marquis de Sade sort of way with an 8x10, says my ruptured lumbar discs.

Plus our 14" Commercial Ektars won't fit on a Leica. ;)

[rdenney]

Did Ted have a category for stubborn idiots?

The math of LF is easy for me (I am an engineer), but it is in no way compelling. I’m perfectly happy ceding control to an automatic process, as long as I set the constraints.

For me, view cameras are about image management, and using view cameras taught me how to do that. It taught me that way of seeing.

I didn’t use a LF camera for a lot of my recent images, but I certainly see a large-format image in my head. As with a view camera, I have to manipulate tools and craft to produce that image, and tools today are as powerful as ever. But I see those tools being used for a very different purpose these days to create an aesthetic I’m happy to let others pursue.

Rick “annoyed by cameras that lack image management control” Denney

[Drew Wiley]

A couple of days ago the lady at the camera store counter where I was purchasing a bit of film was complaining about the guy who always comes in swaggering with a Leica around his shoulder and endless pointing out to everyone how superior it is to everything else. Heck, any clunker medium format camera costing a fifth as much today will deliver richer images. And large format ... well, dinosaurs rule the earth again, and woe be to anything underfoot! But it's all good to me. Last week I was printing 6X9 roll film color negs; this afternoon, it's 8x10. Give me a Leica, and sure, I'll enjoy it. But I'm not apt to spend my own money on one. I'm not a Life magazine photographer, but the kind that makes those guys trip over a big wooden tripod where they don't anticipate it. And indeed, I am also capable of whacking poison oak branches out of the way on the trail with a Ries tripod. Try that with your Leica!

[Pere Casals]

Give me a Leica, and sure, I'll enjoy it. But I'm not apt to spend my own money on one.

Why not ? This is cheap.

Just get a Fed or a Zorky, these are Leicas with personality.

[prado333]

I'm definitely not the Photo Math Man. I chose large format photography more than 40 years ago because of its ability to produce wonderful, grain-free, detailed images. I studied the Zone System, but did not become a serious, test-obsessed technician. I took my own approach to it, developing a system that works for me. I like the measured, slow approach that large format photography invites, and I like seeing an image on a big ground glass. I can see where LF photography would appeal to math-minded folks, but as a I guy who barely escaped high school algebra with a "D," I'm glad that I was able to feel instantly comfortable when I first set up an old Graflex monorail camera. And as for Scheimpflug, I just watch the image on the ground glass as I make my adjustments -- geometry and trig never cross my mind.

Thanks Ben

[Tin Can]

Hilarious, it seemed to be the only good thing left to SF. Been there a few times, decades ago.

So I clicked on Harvey Milk Photo Center membership to be given a momentary flash of an image 'Fly Over Country'. It immediately disappeared.

Flitting irony


Harvey Milk Photo Center in San Francisco carries on the SF tradition of group darkroom sharing to this day:
http://harveymilkphotocenter.org

Being in San Francisco back in those great days of film and more was a special and memorable experience in many ways.
That was a time when Eastman Kodak had a office near Ghirardelli Square. South of Market was a hot bed of creative artistic Fotographic image making from Fashion to Ads to Portraits to Architecture to "Fine Art" and a LOT more.


Bernice

[Drew Wiley]

Hi Pere. I already have a 6x9 "Texas Leica", and it produces much better images than a 35mm Leica at a fraction of the cost. I love that camera. But looking at my best recent 20x24 Fujiflex enlargement from 6x9, which I really like, compared to today's enlargement from 8x10 film, well, it just ain't a fair fight. Technical KO before the enlarger is even switched on.

[Pere Casals]

Hi Pere. I already have a 6x9 "Texas Leica", and it produces much better images than a 35mm Leica at a fraction of the cost. I love that camera. But looking at my best recent 20x24 Fujiflex enlargement from 6x9, which I really like, compared to today's enlargement from 8x10 film, well, it just ain't a fair fight. Technical KO before the enlarger is even switched on.

The GW 690 is amazing... everything is bigger in Texas !

[Drew Wiley]

Well, I originally wanted to shoot that particular shot tri-color on 8X10 TMax. But it wasn't logistically sane. It was one of the most interesting roadside shrines I've ever seen, but at the side of a very small turnout on a curve of a narrow country road with quite a few big ranch trucks and trailers barreling through. It had obviously been a fatal location before; otherwise, a shrine wouldn't even be there. I wanted a very specific perspective, and the 8x10 would require me to set it up in the road itself - not a good idea! But the 6X9 Fuji RF allowed me to work close in and very quickly. Besides the Crystal Archive and Fuji Supergloss prints I've gotten from it, I've also generated a deep green filter enlarged 8X10 interpositive, then from that to a black and white printing neg which yielded a very nice MGWT print; and best of all, I didn't get run over!

[john_ackbar]

In answer to the original question, I have a friend who prints out photography for artwork, and I just think its awesome to be able to hangup really large pictures haha

[Grandpa Ron]

Like my muzzleloading rifles, wood and canvas canoe and open backed banjos, my restored 1910 Seneca is just plain fun to use. They also offer challenges we take for granted with today photo gear.

Many of these old technologies are the products of long gone skilled craftsmen, replaced by modern machines. The fact that they function more than a century later speaks volumes.

[Thad Gerheim]

Here is a crop that I can print with decent quality at 14 inches x 12.5 inches. The original photo still has immaculate tonality and is from before 1910 and is only 3 inches x 16 inches. That's more than a 400% enlargement! I think the image may have been taken with a circuit camera and printed on a collodion emulsion and then toned with platinum and gold. This puts all digital prints to shame.
192192192193

[Collin Orthner]

I simply enjoy the slow pace and deliberateness of the process. I think through the process long before setting up the image on the groundglass, and if deemed worthy enough to try, I go ahead and do the work. Many times I have carefully found my lens a spot in space that will transmit the image I have in mind to a piece of film only to decide the image wouldn't spend much time hanging on my wall and I pack things back up. Seeing and enjoying my time play a large part of "why large format" to me.

[drarmament]

The reason I started to use a Large Format camera:
1. I want the experience of learning film, From going out, setting it up and slowing down.
2. I want to learn how to develop film. Tray development and in the tank. ( I was doing a fitness photography session and the lady gave me her darkroom equipment from high school, I had all the darkroom equipment before I had a film camera)
3. I am really inspired by photographers from the past and today who does large format.
4. I can incorporate film photography with my digital photography work flow.
5. With bad eye sight, the 4x5 ground glass is easier to focus on, then a 35mm camera.

I started my large format journey 6 mounts ago. I wished I could go completely to film, but I can't. I still have to use a digital camera for clients, but bringing the large format camera with me, my clients really loves it and it has help promote me to others.