About Joe Cornish and the scope of the Large Format Photography Forum

[gypsydog]

@xkaes,

I think that the issue is pretty clear from the exchange with Oren above. The only place to discuss the cameras and image capture devices you mention is The Lounge, although there is one category in the forum proper where images can be posted. There are no other available categories. The only reason that Cornish's video wasn't sent to The Lounge, along with the other five posts, is that he mostly talks in the video about his approach to taking the image. Note that the thread also discussed an in-camera stitching method that didn't even exist when these "rules" were apparently adopted almost nine years ago.

You keep putting a time frame on this decision (9 years in this case) and relating it to models of iPhone in a previous post, why? What do iPhones have to do with a large format camera? Large format photography has been what it is for a very long time. What your promoting is digital capture plain and simple, not large format photography. Film is film and pixels are pixels. The later has its place, just not here.

[bob carnie]

So, the Phase One XF IQ4 camera (apparently the camera Mr. Cornish uses) has a 151 megapixel sensor in it. The output of the sensor is (supposedly) 47 X 35 inches at 300 dpi.

I guess the question should be: does the Phase One XF IQ4 camera qualify as a "large format photography" tool?
If the answer is "yes", then it qualifies for the term "large format photography".

I'm honestly not sure if it does meet the requirements. It is my distinct impression that the LFPF is specifically about FILM photography, not just about the SIZE of the film used. Its both things that make this forum about a specific way of making photographs.

Hi Paul

As a person who in my past has printed large format film 8 x10 and now Phase One 150mb files , I can honestly say that they are equal in quality, and IMHO I would suggest large format. With that said I have no issue on the moderation
as I do not govern the site and will go with what they (moderators say).


Bob

[paulbarden]

As stated in the preamble at the top of our guidelines/FAQ page:

We would also consider a digital back with a nominal sensor size of 4"x5" or larger to be LF, as well, regardless of technology.
So in principle our definition does not exclude digital capture, but in practice our scope continues to be effectively film capture only for now.

Sounds reasonable to me.
For some, drawing the line at a 4x5 sensor may seem arbitrary, and that's their choice to see it that way. But this ain't my sandbox, and I'm not making the rules, so I'll accept it as it is and get on with my work. :-)

[paulbarden]

Hi Paul

As a person who in my past has printed large format film 8 x10 and now Phase One 150mb files , I can honestly say that they are equal in quality, and IMHO I would suggest large format. With that said I have no issue on the moderation
as I do not govern the site and will go with what they (moderators say).

Bob

Hi Bob!
Yeah, I don't doubt for one second that those huge files offer resolution equivalent to 8x10. But I will still choose 8x10 sheet film every time, if for no other reason that I enjoy working with physical media.

[r.e.]

Ed Burtynsky (Petapixel interview):

Q. You were matching 4×5 quality up till now?

A. What I’m doing now is beyond 4×5 with the 60 megapixel [Hasselblad]. I would say the 60 put me in a 5×7 format, and the 100 [Hasselblad] will bring me to 8×10.

[Sal Santamaura]

Ed Burtynsky (Petapixel interview):

Q. You were matching 4×5 quality up till now?

A. What I’m doing now is beyond 4×5 with the 60 megapixel [Hasselblad]. I would say the 60 put me in a 5×7 format, and the 100 [Hasselblad] will bring me to 8×10.

Most of the persistent insistence that this forum's definition of large format photography and categorization of posts are obsolete and ought be changed seems to seek justification/validation by means of that quote. The only reasonable response to it is "So what? The owner and moderators of this forum have established their definition and associated guidelines/rules. Anyone who finds those unacceptable is free to start their own forum and establish their own definition/guidelines/rules."

Repeated baseless complaints serve only to induce ill will against complainers.

[r.e.]

Given what Bob Carnie and Ed Burtynsky say explicitly, and Joe Cornish says implicitly, and given that the forum rules say explicitly that digital capture is allowed, what is the problem with a single sub-forum that has the following criteria for posting and discussion:

1. use of a view camera; and
2. digital capture equivalent to at least 4x5 in resolution?


I'm sure that I'm not alone in thinking that the essence of the photography discussed in this forum is use of the view camera and movements. There are leading view camera manufacturers, such as Arca-Swiss, and at least two major lens manufacturers, that are innovating to make cameras that are geared to digital capture. It strikes me that this forum is an obvious place to talk about that, at least if the forum wants to grow rather than be progressively left behind. There is something very artificial about saying that people with money to burn on a 4x5 sensor can talk about these cameras on the forum, but nobody else can.

From my perspective, the thread that started this discussion was a welcome change from the same subjects being discussed over and over and over. I'd like to see more discussion about innovation, and I was quite taken aback to discover that the whole subject is apparently off-limits.

[Dugan]

It's not about resolution, it's about hardware size.

[r.e.]

It's not about resolution, it's about hardware size.

Evidently. Which makes no sense, and amounts to telling people that they're free to post, but only if they own a Ferrari.

[sharktooth]

Let's keep in mind that this site is pretty much ad free, and is financially supported by some generous donors. Every "hit" on this site costs money, so widening the scope of the site will result in additional cost. This has been explained in other threads, and is the reason for limiting photo's posted on this site, limiting access to the buy and sell forum to members, and putting some threads into the Lounge where only members have access.

I'm happy to take my free lunch, so to speak, in a 4x5 (or larger) bucket.