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In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
5x7: What's not to love ?
Even the humblest of scanners can make you a great image at 11x14 or larger, with no grain/noise, smooth tonality, and wonderful resolution.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Ken, splendid rendition. I particularly like the way you've assigned the lightest part of the image to the sharpest focus then let the softness of the remaining place the whole in context. Kind of transports me back to the Hancock Shaker village outside Pittsfield.
Nate Potter, Austin TX.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Ken,
Wonderful. Beautiful tones and composition.
Indeed, 5X7 is hard to beat. To my taste it is the sweet spot of all sweet spots.
Sandy King
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Ditto. Ditto. And ditto.
So why aren't we all using 5x7? Why aren't all emulsions available in 5x7?
What should I sell to move to 5x7? Right. My 4x5 cameras and holders. Most of the lenses should be ok. Nope. Only 2.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Here is one. An indoor/outdoor look with a scene of very high contrast.
Original negative was 5X7 TMY developed in Pyrocat-HD. Shot with 105 mm Fujinon SD.
Subject is the Ex-Seminary of the Jesuits in Morelia, Mexico, from the second floor.
Sandy
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
"What should I sell to move to 5x7?"
Don't sell. Just get some cheapo stuff. Finding lenses which cover adequately is not always a problem, since many which cover 4x5, can handle 5x7. And its only an issue if you shoot at infinity. Even "junky" vintage lenses which nominally cover 4x5, will cover all the way to 8x10 at 1:1.... and for 5x7, one-to-one is pretty large ! Those junky vintage lenses perform a lot better when you enlarge them a lot less. And you can use a BetterScanning holder on an Epson scanner - something you can't do with 8x10.
Richard Ritter put a new red bellows on this old 5x7 Kodak 2A, which I found at an auction. The camera was way-cheaper than even a Chinese copy of a copy of a 4x5. It's still working today, shown here at my posh "studio": a chair next to the window, a potted plant, and some black cloth from the fabric store.
I bought some 5x7 holders from Eddie for a great price. The lens which came with the camera was an old 190mm Bausch&Lomb Tessar, which I presumed was junk. I didn't have a clue.
Scanning 2400 spi - even only 8 bit b&w, this 1930's wooden box from Rochester is a 200 Mebagyte monstah !
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
"Subject is the Ex-Seminary of the Jesuits in Morelia, Mexico"
Never mind the huge brightness range, which is remarkable in itself: Man, that has the feeling of the place ! The tired agedness of everything, the power and clarity of the sun, the mystery.
Years ago, I resided in two monasteries in Mexico. Your photo brings back a flood of memories.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Steve Simmons praised the 5X7 format for many years. Not many people paid attention to what he was saying.
Recently, Steve began using the 7"x17" format. He has been writing a series of articles on the Ritter 7"x17" camera. Now, that's a format that can present a real challenge for obtaining film and holders, not to mention cameras.
I finally began to use my Canham Traditional in the 5x7 mode, and I agree that 5x7 is the "sweet spot". Should have listened to Steve a long time ago.
I will soon be selling my 8x10 Canham Traditional. Too much to haul around.
I just searched the B&H website. They list eleven 5x7 B&W negative films. One 5x7 color transparency film, and one 5x7 color negative film. And that's only one of several dealers out there.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gem Singer
I just searched the B&H website. They list eleven 5x7 B&W negative films. One 5x7 color transparency film, and one 5x7 color negative film. And that's only one of several dealers out there.
B&W is not a big problem here, but color film is.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
I understand the difficulty obtaining color film for the 5x7 format.
However, it's the ideal format for those of us that use B&W film and develop it ourselves.
Color sheet film, whether transparency or negative, is expensive to purchase and process at a commercial lab (assuming that you can still find a lab that processes sheet film).
Whenever I shoot color, I use 120 roll film or a digital camera.
If you insist on shooting LF in color, use 4x5.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gem Singer
I understand the difficulty obtaining color film for the 5x7 format.
However, it's the ideal format for those of us that use B&W film and develop it ourselves.
Color sheet film, whether transparency or negative, is expensive to purchase and process at a commercial lab (assuming that you can still find a lab that processes sheet film).
Whenever I shoot color, I use 120 roll film or a digital camera.
If you insist on shooting LF in color, use 4x5.
for me, I have jobo 3005, I process b&w and e-6 myself. so process is not a big problem,
Currently I scan 45, contact print 810. I guess that I can contact print 57 and scan 57.
If I decide to build darkroom, I would likely get a 45 enlarger, although 57 enlarger is not too big, but there are much more 45 enlarger than 57 enlarger.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
5x7 FP4+, PCHD, Azo in amidol
This is my first scan and posted photo (am I digital now?) so I am not sure how it will come out but I thought I'd give it a try. I just put the mounted print on the platen and then cut out the image. I saved a little of the mount around the edges. Any suggestions on how to do this better will be appreciated
I put the 8x10 down a little over a year ago and have been shooting 5x7 and since it is so portable (portability being a relative thing) I have done a ton of work. I am convinced that a 5x7 and contact printing may be the least expensive way to get into large format. 5x7 prints are just amazing.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Ken,
Doesn't this thread belong in the new Image Sharing and Discussion Forum?
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Oops - You're certainly right !
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
coffeebeans, in espresso
processed in gut-rot coffee
printed on azo+ansco130
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ken Lee
.........
5x7: What's not to love ? ..........
:)
I bought my first 5x7 in '92 and loved it.
Everyone around me thought it was foolish.
It is a format that just feels a little more natural to me than 4x5 does.
It is nice to see the format get a little more respect now than it did in the "Hey Day" of film, at least here in North America, the Europeans realized the beauty of 5x7 long before, Christopher Broadbent is a perfect example.
A friend of my dad's, who was a big portrait guy here in MTL and had always preferred 5x7 and 5x8 shot on an 8x0 camera with a reduction back, he claimed the negs were always better when using a reduction back then a 5x7 on a 5x7 camera. I would love to hear from the elders (or anyone with extensive experience with R.B.) who may have shot extensively with reduction backs, any truth to this?
I have posted this before, but I could never scan 5x7 negs until very recently and have very few to show.
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/4943/door76x.jpg
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Quote:
Originally Posted by
henrysamson
... I am convinced that a 5x7 and contact printing may be the least expensive way to get into large format. 5x7 prints are just amazing.
Now they tell me.
Hank,
Thanks for the 4x5 Efke film! You gave it to Lee who gave it to me. I will put it to good use in the New Year.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
oh baby! great idea. i shoot 5x7 collodion images most often. oh boy!
1st is a clear glass ambrotype (CGA)
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
I think I posted it before, but I like this one. Grizzly Falls in Sequoia National Forest. Camera: Improved Seneca Whole Plate with 5x7 reduction back. Lens: 450mm Fujinon C. Film: Arista.edu Ultra 200 @100, developed in Thornton 2 Bath. Scanned flat on the glass emulsion side down on an Epson 4870, then flipped.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
I've really really enjoyed the 5X7 Speed that I had Fred Lustig restore this year. Put a soft focus lens up front and let the rest of the crap fall as it may.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
5x7 was my entry point to contact printing - and after I got an "ex-Galli" 5x7 Charten camera, it became my preferred option for shooting out on a hike: the camera is thinner and about as heavy as my 4x5, so there is no reason not to lug that one around: cherry wood, 21.5 x 21.5 x 5.5 cm, 1.6kg! As a matter of fact, this last summer I was three months in the high arctic with only this camera.
More images from that trip at my site and at Flickr.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
I have been shooting 5x7 for about 9 years, and I love it. Initially, I was thinking about switching to 8x10, but I found a website that posted an extreme cropped enlargement of beer bottle in a room. The fellow made that cropped beer bottle photograph starting from 35mm all the way up to 8x10 including the Canon 16 mgp. There were many surprise in that suite of images, but the biggest one for me was that there was very little difference between 8x10 and 5x7.
All of my 4x5 lenses worked with my 5x7. With the 5x7 I can use smaller lenses, have less restricted depth of field problems, and have lighter and more portable lenses than an 8x10. So I switched to 5x7 and never looked back.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
I'm a relatively newcomer to 5x7 but have found that it is my ideal format. I use a Walker 5x7 XL Wide and shoot 5x7/13x18cms as well as 120 roll with a Canham 6x17 film back.
I've tried 5x4 as well as 10x8 but found that 5x7 fitted my style of photography much better. Finding film in the UK is a bit of a bummer! Thankfully I shoot black and white so Ilford FP4 Plus is fine!
I develop 2 sheets of 5x7 at a time in Paterson Orbital Processor (in 200ml of solution) and scan with an Epson V700 (and Betterscanning station); printing is done with an Epson 3800 and K3 inkset.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
I'll chime in with my old favourite, shot on 13x18cm EPP with a Linhof Technika III using a 165mm f:6.8 Schneider Angulon lens.
Most of you have seen it before. :)
http://www.bruraholo.no/images/Lodalen_GF.jpg
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
I like it also now that I have a light Anba Ikea. This is 210 Sironar.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
I too am convinced that 5x7 (13x18 for me) is the ideal format. Once converted, I have used it for all practical work for 20-odd years. As I mentioned elswhere, there was a prejudice against 5x7 which grew from 8x10 snobbery in advertising. It seems to have the right form factor - not too floppy and yet not too small.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OR3U2BmIDuk/Sy.../pumpkintm.jpg
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
"I'll chime in with my old favourite..."
I was hoping you would :)
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Here's one from Bergamo Italy (2009). 5X7 Wisner/180 Nikkor W.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
I like the ratio of the 5x7. I really need to shoot more 5x7 and help keep film in the supply chain. This was shot with my Shen Hao 5x7 it is a bit on the heavy side that is why I'm looking for a 5x7 Anba-Ikeda. Ilford FP4, Symmar-s 210.
Thanks for looking and any critiques.
Merry Christmas, Richard
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Very nice shot, particularly the framing of the glacier. Where was it taken?
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Thanks for looking and any critiques.
Have you thought about increasing the "atmospheric" effect a little ? We've probably all seen it overdone at times.
You can see in Chuck's photo above, that even a touch of dark values in the foreground, makes the distance that much deeper. (His is an entirely different subject of course - but it's close at hand).
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Salmon Glacier, taken in SE Alaska. Just north of the town of Hyder, AK. Salmon Glacier maybe just across the border into British Columbia though.
Richard
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Hi Ken,
Thank you for the critique. I darkened the top of the sky abit along with the darkening of the foreground trees. I think views better. I enjoy your work and appriciate your ideas and comments.
Regards, Richard
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Hi,
In this last image (I promise) I darkened the L & R foreground hill-sides and the UL corner of the sky. The BG mountain was lightend a bit. Thanks again for the help.
Regards, Richard
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Very nice.
You might want to consider minor burning and dodging of small areas, to make things appear a little more graspable visually. It's hard to describe, but basically makes things look more 3-dimensional. For example, the clouds.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Ken, Thanks again for the tips I worked on the clouds and details some more.
Regards, Richard
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
You're most welcome !
I wish there were more critiques here: They're where the rubber meets the road.
Speaking of 5x7, QT Luong, the founder of this site, has some lovely photos and helpful info about 5x7, on this site - here and here.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Oh my, that's the camera I've always wanted, a Canham 5X7, it's enough to make a grown man cry. I love 5x7 and have a junker Seneca 5x7 that will probably never get restored, why bother, and a clean and nicely restored Kodak 2D 5x7, the bulldog of 5x7 cameras. But the Canham is the one I have always wanted to buy, own, and use.
Curt
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
After going back & forth between 4x5, 5x7, & 8x10, I've decided that 5x7 suites me best. I contact print & just love the size. Big gems.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Matt, I like that first one very much. There is something in it that draws the eye in and keeps it there.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Yeah, Matt, the first one IS nice. (I like the second just as much, I think.) Are you familiar with the work of David Plowden? You would probably enjoy it:
http://www.davidplowden.com/
Check out the "Rural America" shots.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Curt
Oh my, that's the camera I've always wanted, a Canham 5X7, it's enough to make a grown man cry. I love 5x7 and have a junker Seneca 5x7 that will probably never get restored, why bother, and a clean and nicely restored Kodak 2D 5x7, the bulldog of 5x7 cameras. But the Canham is the one I have always wanted to buy, own, and use.
Curt
Curt,
The wood Canham 5X7 is a very good camera, lots of bellows and plenty of movements and reasonably compact. But you might also want to consider a Shen Hao FCL57-A if money is a consideration. It is much less expensive than the Canham and has lots of movements and bellows draw (enough for 450mm lenses, slightly less than the Canham), sets up quickly and very rigidly, and is about as compact as the Canham 57. I have owned both and on balance prefer the Shen Hao.
Sandy King
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Thank you Marko & h2oman.
I am familiar with Plowden's work and do enjoy it.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Here is a 5X7 image with some nice clouds. Canham 57 with Nikkor 450 lens.
The famous pictorialist Ortiz-Echagė made many Fresson prints of this subject, near Huesca in Aragon, Spain. But most of his prints with clouds are composite pictures, with the clouds printed in from other negatives. My clouds were right there in the original scene.
Sandy King
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Great detail in the sky Sandy,
very nice.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Another 5X7/210 symmar. This is my one obligatory tree picture for 2009 taken in the poplar forests of northern Italy.
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
Quote:
Originally Posted by
sanking
Curt,
The wood Canham 5X7 is a very good camera, lots of bellows and plenty of movements and reasonably compact. But you might also want to consider a Shen Hao FCL57-A if money is a consideration. It is much less expensive than the Canham and has lots of movements and bellows draw (enough for 450mm lenses, slightly less than the Canham), sets up quickly and very rigidly, and is about as compact as the Canham 57. I have owned both and on balance prefer the Shen Hao.
Sandy King
I second Sandy's endorsement. The Shen Hao FCL57-A is a great 5x7 and it is the lightest 5x7 I have ever used (except for the Charten which I owned very briefly, but it had limited movements). If you are planning to carry it on your back for any length of time, weight matters.
Hank
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
I have a new 5x8 I have been using and these are a couple of new images I made with it. Platinum prints.
Ray
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Re: In Praise of 5x7... Post'em !
After years of 4X5 work, I moved up to 5X7 a couple of years ago thanks to Chauncey Walden. It took me about a second to realize it was the format for me!
Here is a little aspen image from this fall.