11x14 or 5x7 formats

[Rod Lamkey]

Are 11x14 film and holders readily available? Are 5x7 film and holders readily available? If so, from where, and about how much? I am considering purchasing an 11x14 camera (no brand) with one huge thick film holder, or (if I can find one) a 5x7 camera. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Rod rod@LMI.net

[MTHOMPSON_162]

5X7 film, in black and white is readily available. 5X7 color may be more limited .11X14 is probably going to be harder to find, and color may be next to impossib le. I saw a place in one of the large format site that listed 11X14 film and up, but I can't recall which one. You might contact Wisner, as they build 11X14 and larger cameras.

100 sheets of 5X7, Tri-X, from Calumet is $114.95. A rough guess on 11X14 would be $5.00 a sheet for black and white, 8X10 runs $2.48 a sheet and 11X14 is proba bly twice that.

5X7 holders are $51.50 for 2, 11X14 are $637.95 for 2, from B and H.

I would be curios about the 11X14, make sure that it is for cut film and not gla ss plates. Having a really thick holder might indcate it is old enough to have u sed glass plates, and might take extensive modification to use the current film holders.

A couple advantages of 5X7 are a contact print makes a nice sized image and "mos t" of the lenses for 4X5 will cover the format, making the aquisition of glass l ess expensive than for 11X14.

[Alan Gibson]

Rod and Marv may both be in the USA. Here in the UK, the situation is different. I was considering 11x14 last June, and did an extensive search: 11x14 film, col our or B&W, was not available in the UK.

[Struan Gray]

I investigated sources of large sheet film (11x14 and up) recently and things are definitely better in the USA than in Europe. Black and white continuous tone film is fairly readily available and lith film (which can be developed for continuous tone) can be found everywhere, though the market is contracting as the commercial graphics arts world switches over to digital. Colour film is rarer, often shockingly expensive, and sometimes one has to use odd emulsions such as tungsten-balanced duping films.

Generic sources of film include the usual big photo dealers with extensive pro support, smaller places (or manufacturers) that specialise in large-format cameras, graphics arts shops, and suppliers for alternative processes such as platinotype that need large negatives for contact printing. As a rule I found talking to dealers and other photographers much more use than talking to local agents for film companies. Some specifics places that I have found on the web are:

In the UK: Silverprint (B+W sheet film, lith film, alt. chemicals) (www.silverprint.co.uk)

In Austria: Lotus View Cameras (B+W sheet film) (www.lotusviewcamera.at)

In the USA: B+H (current production sheet films (incl. colour), lith films) (www.bhphotovideo.com) Samys (Ilford FP4+ and HP5+ in large sizes) (www.samys.com) Freestyles Sales Co. (B+W, colour film, cheap out of date stock) (www.freestylesalesco.com) Darkroom Innovations (B+W ilford film, useful darkroom stuff) (www.darkroom-innovations.com) The Alt Process FAQ (lots of good advice and links - try the discussion group archives for info on lith film and other large negatives) (http://duke.usask.ca/~holtsg/photo/faq.html)

In Canada: Eight Elm (agent for Lotus, same B+W films) (www.eightelmphoto.com)

Apologies for the hand-formatted html, but the greenspun server seems to mangle my postings if I leave the end of

[Alan Gibson]

I think Silverprint in the UK was one of the suppliers I spoke to last year, alo ng with Joe's Basement, Widescreen Centre and Fox Talbot. Sadly, just because a film is listed in a WWW or paper catalogue dosn't mean that they can actually su pply it.

[Nestor Portocarrero]

I'm trying to get a group of people together to make a special order of 11x14 color film (Kodak). Already have some poeple. The more respond, the cheaper the film. Send an E-mail.