How many LF photographers out there?

[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...

[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