Is the 5x7 format endangered?

[Tracy Storer]

I have sold 5-5x7 negative carriers in the last month or so, trying to decide whether to make another batch. Keith Canham orders different varieties of 5x7 film with some regularity(including color neg), and I believe it's a stock size for Ilford (but would be available in their annual ULF and weird sizes order if not).

PS: Attn Dugan: I shoot 3.25"x4.25" and know several other shooters who do as well. The Super D in that size is SO manageable compared to the 4x5, and I have a 3x4 Speed that make a very compact kit even with a nice stack of holders. I even made a reducing back for my 8x10 for "Quarter Plate" aka 3.25 x 4.25. Film through Ilford, once a year, VERY affordable !

Back to 5x7, Calumet SF used to stock 5x7 Tri-X for years after I left since I planted "the bug" in the system, it even got mentioned on here way back when.

[Daniel Unkefer]

J Lane makes 5x7 dry plates.

[Bernice Loui]

5x7 has aways been the "odd" film format size. The alternative 13x18cm was common in places like Germany.

Back in the hey day of film, 5x7 film had to be ordered for B & W or Color. With that, stocking up on film and ordering film was just part of the routine.
Been using 5x7 film since 1988, never looked back after learning on 4x5, then trying 8x10 for some time. Gave up on both and stuck with 5x7 since then.


Bernice

[Eric Leppanen]

Ilford continues to regularly stock FP4+, HP5+ and Delta 100 in 5x7. Bergger included 5x7 sheets in their recently released Pancro 400 film. Arista and Foma regularly stock 5x7 film.

Keith Canham continues to arrange group purchases of 5x7 Portra and TMY and I have not noticed any slowdown in his order tempo, aside from 5x7 Ektar which doesn't seem to be as popular. I have not heard whether group purchases of 5x7 Ektachrome are anticipated but Kodak has indicated that sheet film is coming so it may be a possibility.

Chamonix recently iterated their latest Phillips-style 5x7 camera (057Fs-2).

If film demand further softens then 5x7 film will likely become a special order item, we all know that. It is difficult to imagine it disappearing entirely unless all sheet film formats go away. I needed a larger format than 4x5 but lighter than 8x10 so I bought a 5x7 and haven't looked back. In my case 5x7 forced me to become a better color neg shooter (after shooting chrome for many years) which actually improved some of the technical aspects of my photography.

[Dugan]

Wow, glad to see the outpouring of support for 5x7!
I am restoring an Eastman 33A, and also have a Conley 5x7 and a 5x7 pinhole.

Tracy: I didn't mean to offend re: 3x4...BTW, I have a 3x4 Anny Speed that I got to shoot paper negs with.
I have a 250ft. roll of 3 1/2" Polycontrast to play with.

[Chester McCheeserton]

Thomas Demand called it the ultimate format...

Needing color negative film and not wanting to deal with hacking down 8x10 in the darkroom is a big pain.

Only eccentric dilettantes like us are going to use it....I switched up from 4x5 just four years ago and would never go back.

A great book I just discovered in the library, "Lewis Hine, When Innovation was King; The WPA National Research Project Photographs, 1936-37" shows Hine making spectacularly good pictures of american factory workers using a 5x7 camera. Interesting that this was the same moment Walker Evans and Edward Weston were making pictures revered as Art, but Hine is considered 'just' a social documentary photographer...

[Leszek Vogt]

Jac, you didn't clarify why you think the 5x7 is no more or sliding towards extinction.

Ha, my initial LF quest was 4x5 and the 5x7 felled into my lap. Despite a bit of a rollercaster ride, I'm holding onto the 5x7, tho depends on the subject, etc., I may consider 4x5 aesthetic, using redux back. Not goona say "never", but for some reason 8x10 didn't have all that pull....like it has on many people here. Maybe I should just jump for something bigger like 11x14, he he.

Les

[Bernice Loui]

IMO, 5x7 and/or 13x18cm is the ideal sheet film format if the image are to be enlarged to the size constraints of good quality B&W print paper. It is large enough for contact prints. It is the best-tradeoff sheet film format size once ALL the image making bits are considered from camera size-weight, film holder size-weight, choice of optics, cost of optics, size of enlarger, projected print quality, size of post process real-estate needs, storage space requirements and every other aspect of the image-making process points to these sheet film format sizes as being ideal.

It is by far the most under appreciated sheet film format with 4x5 being the most common and 8x10 being the fabled ultimate sheet film format due to size, except the reality of 8x10 has very significant limitations. Going beyond 8x10 becomes more contact print centric which has a appeal and validity all it's own.


Bernice

[andreios]

I thought it was odd format - but then I realized I can get many BW emulsions - but I do work with the european 13x18 size. Moving to half plate which is similar in size showed me, what a endangered format menas I can still get Fomapan 100 any time in that size. (So far... fingers crossed.)
But as many have said, the largest andvantage is the "contactability"... (even though a Durst 138 comes useful as well.) Last night I developed half a dozen 4x5 negs, liked them and immediately reproached myself that I did not bring a larger camera with me...

[Delfi_r]

5x7 (USA format, Kodak film it's only availabe on 5x7 size) or 13x18 (Europe format, there are plenty of sheet holders here, and lots of enlargers availabe) it's the best format.

for color, you need to contact Keith Canham, and you have a lot of options to choosee in B+W film

New cameras come from the active makers and there are a lot of Cambo, Linhof and other brands in the used market. You can go very wide on 5x7 film.

You can scan in flat scanners and on the Imacon X1. And the 5x7 enlargers are big but not so big that you can't put them in your life (I have two of them)

Endangered? No more than film photography as a whole