11x14 versus 8x10

[LFdilettante]

Hi all,

Looking to step up to LF from canon DSLR and Leica M Rangefinder. Is 11x14 THAT much better than 8x10 in terms of picture quality for contact prints and /or enlargements? I plan to shoot largely portaits, often in environmental settings e.g. factory/restaurant workers etc.

An additional caveat is in terms of equipment, I am not restricted weight wise or monetarily.

Not very specific at this stage I know, I just wondered about the differences in quality to the naked eye, and whether in 5 yrs 11x14 will be largely gone/superseded

Thanks in advance

Newbie (to be)

[Vaughn]

Enlarging 11x14 is, in my opinion, no better than 8x10 up to any reasonable size enlargement that one is likely to make. If you plan on prints larger than bed sheets, 11x14 might give you a better quality image...but finding enlargers or scanners for 11x14 is that more difficult than for 8x10.

I print in alt processes, so it is all contact printing. For this 11x14 is sweet! But I do more 8x10 than 11x14...but that may change....especially when I get around to modifying an 11x14 darkslide to make two 5.5 x 14 images on a single sheet of 11x14 film. But the quality of 8x10 and 11x14 is exactly the same as contact prints -- one is just larger than the other.

As far as photographing, 8x10 is much much easier than 11x14...especially in tight places. The lens used for 11x14 tend to be longer in focal length than those with 8x10, so some depth of field is lost as one moves up to 11x14, but there are other variables that can negate the differences.

[LFdilettante]

Thanks for the response. I greatly appreciate it. Can I extend the topic a little?

Have you found a difference in the response of your subjects to both sizes of LF camera. i.e do you find them more relaxed with the larger or smaller size? Obviously this depends on your 'subject' and your 'persona', but purely from a camera size perspective.....?

[Michael Roberts]

What Vaughn said, plus how big do you want to enlarge? Big difference between an end goal of contacts vs enlarging. For my two cents, I would do 11x14 for contacts and 4x5 for enlarging.

[Mark Woods]

I find that when a view camera is set up, the subject is aware that this is a sitting and responds accordingly.

[John NYC]

Are you ever going to have a hybrid workflow where you scan? Are you only going to shoot b&w? Are you going to develop b&w at home? If so do you have a darkroom or a space big enough to do 11x14?

[Noah A]

I'm not sure if you're asking the right questions yet, and in any event the answers will depend on what you're doing.

Are you shooting color or B&W? How large do you want to print? Are the prints going to digital or optical?

Perhaps most importantly--what do you want the photos to look like? Are you looking for B&W prints with shallow focus and creamy tonality? Or hyper-sharp color images where everything is in focus?

If you've never worked with LF at all, you might be surprised at how much image quality you can get from even 4x5, especially if you drum scan and print digitally. Larger formats mean you might face problems related to depth of field, diffraction, slower shutter speeds (or the need for LOTS of light), etc. Personally, I switched from 8x10 to 4x5 because of these issues. I drum scan my negatives and make very large prints which are very sharp.

Unless you make really, really huge prints, I doubt you'll see much difference in sharpness between prints from a very good 8x10 negative and an 11x14 negative.

As far as film availability, 11x14 is definitely a special-order item and may be subject to minimums. 8x10 is more available. If you're shooting B&W there may be more options, but for color does Fuji do special order sizes? I don't know the answer, bug it's something to consider since the future of Kodak is something I wouldn't want to bet on. (Kodak does offer special-order ULF film.) I guess since money is no object, I'd recommend buying a few year's worth of film no matter which format you choose. And in five years? Your guess is as good as mine.

I think there is a certain dynamic that happens when you do portraits with large format. Of course this can vary by your personality, the way you shoot, and of course the subject. But I haven't noticed much difference between how subjects react to 4x5 vs 8x10. They're both large. They both require the subject to concentrate and stay still. So I don't think you'll find that they react all that differently between 8x10 and 11x14. They're both going to be large cameras that require a lot of concentration from both the photographer and the subject.

[Alan Gales]

You can scan 8x10 on an Epson V700 or V750 flatbed scanner. An 11x14 is too big to fit.

Contact printing 11x14 would be nice as mentioned earlier.

[Jonathan Barlow]

If weight and cost are not an issue, why not 16x20? Contact prints in that size are really impressive.

[ic-racer]

Hi all,

Looking to step up to LF from canon DSLR and Leica M Rangefinder.

I don't think one can just buy an 11x14 camera and start shooting. Maybe you can, but in my experience shooting and enlarging 8x10 is not like going to Best Buy and getting a digital camera.