How many LF photographers out there?

[BarryS]

Thinking about the ever diminishing sheet film market makes me wonder just how many active large format photographers are out there. In your state? In the US? The world? I'm thinking the numbers are pretty small. I'll define active as having shot large format film in the last 6 months. Anyone have any idea? Just from my experience, it seems that some states might have fewer than 100 large format photographers and very few states have over 1000. California might hit 1000, maybe New York. If you subtract students--most of whom will never pursue LF beyond a class--the numbers probably get even smaller. Do we number over 10,000 in the US? What do you think?

[Dave Wooten]

Ok Barry, I will raise my hand, that makes 2 of us so far.

[Ron Marshall]

Over 13,000 members on this site alone, not all in the USA.

[Collin Orthner]

I'm in Canada, so at least 4 now in North America for sure.

[vinny]

put me down for 1.

[David Karp]

Of course, the numbers are pretty small in relation to the number of people who use cameras of all types. Nevertheless, a reliable source (a camera manufacturer) told me not too long ago that people at Kodak, Ilford, and Fuji have all told him that their sales of sheet film had stabilized and/or were increasing! This does not include film sales by Foma, Adox, Efke, etc. Sales of 8x10 cameras and larger are also increasing (according to the same source). If the same % of the population in China adopts LF photography as does so elsewhere, then it would seem like we are in pretty good shape.

[BarryS]

Dave, Colin, and Vinny-- I sorta hoped it wouldn't come to all us counting off one by one, but thanks. :)

Ron-- Well, I'm not sure what 13,00 members registered over the life of this site actually means. We have ~2200 active members, so if we said 1% of current LF photographers are active on the site that would be about 220,000 worldwide. Of course that estimate is pulled directly from my...hat.

David--I'm very happy to hear sheet film sales are stable--I'm doing my part. China does seem to have an active large format (and ULF) community, so maybe you're right. Dick Phillips told me his last batch of 8x10 Explorers went to Asia--many in China I think. Chamonix is selling a steady stream of cameras, although some are exported. Mostly, I think the Chinese are spending their disposable income on the same stuff as everyone else--modern consumer goods. But one can hope.

[Collin Orthner]

Hi Barry, Sorry for the single count thing. I run a photo store in my city (pop. 85000)and know of 4 photographers in town using large format cameras. Lets say there is at least one I don't know of for 5. interpolating this to the population of Canada we would come out to roughly 1950 large format shooters north of the 49th.

[Bob Salomon]

You are asking too broad a question.

We, for instance, sell a large number of 4x5 Linhof Kardan re cameras to companies that install them on large motorized Kaiser copy stands for digitizing. Everyone of those users is technically a "LF photographer". None of them take the camera out in the field and do landscapes. None of them put the camera on a tripod and do product work, none of them shoot buildings or portraits. None of them use film.

What type of LF photographer are you asking about?

[Photojeep]

I am a large format photographer. And I personally know two others so that makes three here!

rb

[Frank Petronio]

I'll make an rough guesstimate at between 40-50K worldwide. I think there are a lot of artists working in isolation and I think a large number of amateur photographers buy the gear and try it for a few months before they give up, but there is a steady stream of newbs to replace them.

In the 1980s I bet the number was 4X that.

[Richard M. Coda]

I know here, in Phoenix, there are at least 50.

[Dave Parker]

Well in 4 years, I have sold over 50,000 LF viewing screens!

Dave

[D. Bryant]

Well in 4 years, I have sold over 50,000 LF viewing screens!

Dave
Wow Dave, I'm impressed.

Don Bryant

[ari velazco]

Here in the Philippines, I personally know 6 LF photographers, from 4x5 to 20x24 format.

[cjbroadbent]

In Milan I now have to order 8x10 TMax in advance from the distributor, 2 boxes at a time. That's a lot of Euro. A couple of of us here are still using up the last precious Polaroid 8x10s for editorials. When that is gone, I imagine 8x10 as a day job will be over.
In Paris, Avenue Beaumarchais (where the camera stores are), hobbyists seem to be dumping the smaller LF gear for 8x10 and larger, to get an edge on digital. Prophot is selling more alternative darkroom gear, as is Silverprint in London. So maybe LF still has a future with LFFs (freaks).
Somebody start a thread: The End Of 8x10 As A Day Job

[Milton Tierney]

As a newbe to LF forum, I can not answer how many LF photogs are in my state. I just returned to LF and to photography after 15 years. I am flabbergasted how much the photo world as changed. It seems that the world as gone almost digital. 15 years ago I could find sheets film and chemicals at all the pro shops. Now I can’t find one good pro shop in the Wash. D.C. area. It seems that the wet processing is going the way of the Dodo. I dug 500 sheets of 15 yrs old 4x5 b/w negs out of my freezer last week, most were still good. I did find one roll of 35mm Kodachrome 25.:)

[Enrico Faini]

I in Milan have long given up trying to buy film locally. Absolutely nobody keeps 5x7 in stock anymore, and those who are willing to order it cannot guarantee a timeframe for delivery and ask exhorbitantly high prices.

However there still are quite a few photographers who use large format :)

[Jiri Vasina]

Here in the Czech Republic, I can count me, my brother-in-law (whom I brought to LF) and have briefly had a contact with another one (a lady in that case). There surely are more, but have not heard of them, have not seen them.

So as far as I know we are only 3 LF photographers in the Czech Republic... But I'll try to convert another one (or two), I promise :D

[butterfly]

I'm in the UK and go out most weekends to shoot LF. I've never seen another LF user! But there must be a few out there. There are only 225 registered users of the UK large format photography web site. So I think in this country the answer could not be more than a few hundred..

[evan clarke]

I'm in Milwaukee and know of about 6, one of whom is my next door neighbor. I use nothing but film but the others seem to split their time between their cameras and digital cameras...EC

[Sal Santamaura]

In Milan I now have to order 8x10 TMax in advance from the distributor, 2 boxes at a time...Are you using TMAX 100 or 400? Were the black and white images in your on-line album also made using TMAX?

[cjbroadbent]

Sal,
Tmax100 readyloads. Now given it up for Tmax400 because the 100 has a unremovable UV blocker which renders it useless for UV contact printing.

[John Voss]

When you think of all the people who used to keep pretty decent cameras in their closets but only trotted them out at Thanksgiving and Christmas etc, you know there wasn't a whole lot of film being consumed during the year. OTOH, I think people who have LF kits probably do indeed use them frequently which may account for the stable or somewhat increased use of film. Whatever the critical mass may be that allows film manufacturers to stay in business, I think we're beyond it enough to be safe for a while.

BTW, one of my neighbors (who posts here) uses a beautiful Arca 4x5 as well as his digicam, and another friend a few miles away uses an 8x10 a lot!

[xavier deltell]

In Barcelona (Spain) I know 2 LF photographers. I can't buy 5x7 or 4x5 film, I buy it in USA.(ebay)

[Joe Smigiel]

There are 3 wetplate collodion photographers in Kalamazoo using large-format cameras and another in a town 20 minutes east of here. I know of at least 2 others a bit further east in the state of Michigan. So that makes at least 6 of us in lower Michigan. There are also a couple daguerreotypists around these parts so we are up to at least 8 in Michigan.

Not sure if anyone from Michigan will be counted in this poll though. Can we get at least a half count per user?

[BarryS]

...Not sure if anyone from Michigan will be counted in this poll though. Can we get at least a half count per user?

I think the rules committee has agreed to seat half of the whole plate photographers or maybe that was a quarter of the half-plate photographers. Just to be safe, better shoot 11x14 or larger and you can be seated, although the chairs don't seem big enough for the photographers and their cameras. :)

[Jiri Vasina]

I've had my eyes opened today - there are a ton of us [LF-shooters] in our rather small country. From what I have found out, it may be in the hundreds, or even more... :eek:

[David_Senesac]

I doubt numbers of people that own large format gear would be very useful because there are certainly large numbers that rarely if ever use those cameras that are probably just collecting dust. Many such maybe lurk on forums like this simply due to the advanced skills of the member base. It seems the question really needs to size up how many photographers are still actively involved using large format view cameras?

A better way to size up the matter may be to limit numbers to those who either used their large format cameras for capturing images at least 3 times in the past year or shot at least 10 frames of film. Thus vaguely a description of an active photographer. There are certainly far more serious photographers with all manner of cameras today than a decade ago. Today the vast majority of last generation's more serious 35mm SLR photographers, most of the previous medium format users, commercial photographers, stock photographers, some of the previousr large format users, and many young new photographers have joined the new DSLR ranks. Older snapshooters and just about everyone else all have compact digital cameras in their pockets. And many older folks like me have a small museum of all manner of these cameras going way back though probably just use one or two actively today. In my case I would only say my 4x5 and Coolpix are active cameras.

My guess is in recent years there have been somewhat more new photographers that tried large format than the numbers that have gone down to use DSLRs. The reason is many of those are coming from the greater new base of DSLR users where competition is fierce in some image areas like landscapes. Any DSLR photographer that has seriously compared the quality of their largest sized prints versus large format prints will notice the striking advantage of the latter. So some may give up all the other advantages of digital like wider dynamic range, lack of film costs, and in camera digital control in order to produce better large prints.

Useful data would be from film manufacturers that are selling sheet and quickload film. Then a major marketer in the film retailing industry one might be able to make a crude guess how many actual photographers might be buying that film.

David Senesac

[MIke Sherck]

In my little "bleak northern industrial town" (Elkhart, IN, population 45,000) I know that there are at least two, myself and someone else, not counting students. Our local camera store used to stock 4x5 film for the two of us - TMX for me, TMY for the other - and the manager told me they sold about a dozen boxes of 50 sheets a year (I bought four to five, depending.) The smaller town south-east of us (Goshen, IN) has at least one (I've met him,) and the larger town to the west (South Bend, IN) has at least four, not counting students, and I'd bet there were at least three times that many, were I a betting man. Their camera store still carries 4x5 film. That's quite a few for a rather rural area in an agricultural and small industrial state, although I think that most of us are students or amateurs and probably don't use enough film between us in a year to fill a postal delivery truck. I think that this is the real problem: we have respectable numbers but we don't shoot film or print at any where near the rate professionals and studios used to.

Mike

[John Kasaian]

There are enough LFer's in Fresno to justify the local independent camera stores (Horn's and Boot's) stock some 4x5 film---that might be because of course materials required by the local University though. I know of a few Speed Graphic owners (I'm not sure if they shoot 'em) and at least one Burk and James Rembrant is probably in the area(it used to be in the window of an antique store.) A few years ago there was a lady doing platinum 8x10 portraits in town but I haven't heard anything about her in quite awhile.