Is there any real utility to ULF?

[Gary Samson]

Tom,

If it is at all possible, try to see original albumen prints by the great western landscape photographer Carleton Watkins. Watkins made many images with his 18x22 inch view camera and the resulting contact prints are extraordinary. After seeing a large show of his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art three years ago, I was convinced that an ULF camera was in my future. I recently aquired a 12x20 Wisner for a project I am doing on the New Hampshire landscape. If you find Watkins work as great a visual experience as I did you will find a way to justify the aquisition of an ULF camera.

Gary

[e]

ULF is a lotta work but it is also a whole lotta fun I like the big screen of a 12x20 there is nothing to compare with it. I am also consistantly amazed with the tonality of the contact print, esp. the incredible depth of the white and darker textures. I used to hate the problems associated with blocked up whites in enlargements but presto.... that problem just dissapears with the 12x20 contact print. The higher textures are exaulted.The big wooden cameras are fun to deal with much like an musical instrument instead of a computer. You have to be physical with it.And the camera has a real personality as well as the photos it takes. There can be big problems with ULF but there are big rewards too. The rewards outweigh the downers and that is why you see more people going this way. Seeing the 12x20 negs hanging in the bathroom drying is a thrill. Hell, I just loaded my filmholders and even enjoyed that as I know I will put them to good use while the mystery of what will be on that big piece of film stimulates my mind like an empty canvas ready to be painted. Also I feel privilaged to be able to use a camera of this size in this whacky day and age. Happy that B&W is alive and well in ULF. PS..if this interests you and you dont mind working with a Wisner I have a new 12x20 and a new 7x17 coming in next week for sale for the spring season. To be fair I might end up keeping the 7x17 (it's so small and cute...only 10lbs) but the 12x20 is definately available. This type of photography grows on you. It has really taken me places that the smaller formats wouldn't and couldn't.

[David Kashuba]

Re:Watkins... The California State Library has a great collection of Watkins' mammoth prints. Historian Kenneth Star gave a photo class I was enrolled in years ago a tour of the library's photography collection. With gloves Star turned page after page of Watkin's (and Muybridge's) huge contact prints. Lot's of Yosemite. We were allowed to view the work close, with good light and with no glass. MMMMM.... If one was serious he could probably make an appointment for a viewing. "Carlton Watkins The Art of Perception" can be purchased at discount prices from the usual sources. Excellent monograph.

-David Kashuba.

[jantman]

Right now, I shoot 8x10. That's because it's all I can afford. In the future, I plan on moving up to 11x14, and maybe one day to 16x20 or 20x24. I already have a 14 Commercial Ektar which, stopped down, will cover 11x14 - or so I am told.

Ever since enlarging became commonplace, there hasn't been a NEED for ULF. Mainly because above 12x20, all you can do is contact print. Unless someone out there DOES have a larger enlarger.

But there IS a visible difference between a contact print and even the best enlargement. There is just something special - a quality of 'presence' if you will - about a contact print. I love an 8x10 contact print, and whenever I read about ULF, I know that I have to do it as soon as I can justify the cost.

[John D Gerndt]

What does you wife say about your work now? Can you show her and have you seen contact prints from ULF? Can you bear to forgo some of your old equipment to go in this new direction?

It is a good thing to put your unused equipment back into circulation. The more people shooting film the better! Compare the losses in (possible) versitility and differences in what you paid fir it to what you can get for it to what is gained in getting the new.

Figure the loss goes to “film support”. If the film economy is good, if people are using all the film equipment out there then the art of shooting film is going to continue.

From a psychology POV, everyone has to have some goal and sense of accomplishment. I get this from my photography and not from my work. I don’t have any children and if they did their lives are their own anyway. It is a very different thing making something from raw materials, pulling images from out of the air.

Make some art and make it for reasons YOU feel are worth it and see if others share in it when it is done. IF you have children and do ULF (you must have a pretty darn good job too then...) it is still a unique thing you can bring to your wife and children - these images of your own construction and style. It opens up the world in a very personal way.

On the other hand, if you are only looking for some balance in image quality, convenience and price then by all means farm out your work. There is no need to acquire all the equipment and skill if you are not very personally involved in what you are doing. Digital is then "good enough" and has infinite change available and even enforced. Time will tell if ULF will be surplanted by a new technology, but I DO see people that still paint 150+ years after photography gave us this new way to create the sharpest, truest images ever...

[Christopher Condit]

The only reason I can think of for using ULF is if you are a retro-geek like me. I can't see the difference between a contact and an enlargement and I *still* plan on buying an 11x14 very soon.

Like a ULF builder/salesman told me last week, ULF is thriving (relatively speaking) because those buyers are 'fleeing digital'. That would be me. After 8 hrs/day in front of this dang computer, I want a hobby that is exactly the opposite.

[Joe Smigiel]

"What you got back home little sister to play your fuzzy warbles on? I bet you've got little say pitiful portable picnic players. Come with Uncle and hear all proper. Hear angel trumpets and devil trombones. You are invited." - Anthony Burgess

[Bruce Watson]

Is there any real utility to ULF?

Actually, there is. If you want a fairly large print, and you demand the ultimate quality you can get from a contact print, the only way to get there if via ULF. Of course, you are going to have to be a hell of a dedicated photographer to get prints this way that are better then enlarger or digital prints. But it can, in fact, be done -- so they tell me.

You'll never catch me going there though! I like putting it all on my back and taking a nice long hike through the woods or up the mountain. For me, the real utility is 4x5. It should be amazingly stunningly clear that YMMV though.

[Øyvind Dahle]

"I?m having a hard time justifying the cost"

Wide angle lens (360 Apo-gerogon) $60, find it on ebay or a 450mm Nikkor or Fujinon (will need wider box) Shutter 77mm lenscap (and a black hat) Card board box measuring 360!x510x310mm $10 Bottle of post-it "3M ReMount Spray Adhesive 6091" or "Gepe fix-o-flex" spray for making the film and dust stick to the wall $12 Bottle of dull black spray paint $20 Film http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_prod.php?cat_id=404&pid=5875 25 sheets $178

total: $280 plus development and contact copy cost. plus time.

Make a hole the bottom and a slit in the top of the box to make room for the lens, add plywood? to strengthen the inside of the lens side of the box camera and glue. Spray dull black paint inside both top and bottom. Use the post-it glue to fix the film and any dust inside. Mount the lens on the box, and your ULF-camera is ready. Consider a plywood bottom and one side to add tripod-fixing. Use the lens on 180-256 and it's usable from 20' to infinity (wild guess)

Øyvind

[Rob_5419]

"I?m having a hard time justifying the cost"

Wide angle lens (360 Apo-gerogon) $60, find it on ebay or a 450mm Nikkor or Fujinon (will need wider box) Shutter 77mm lenscap (and a black hat) Card board box measuring 360!x510x310mm $10 Bottle of post-it "3M ReMount Spray Adhesive 6091" or "Gepe fix-o-flex" spray for making the film and dust stick to the wall $12 Bottle of dull black spray paint $20 Film http://www.freestylephoto.biz/sc_pro...d=404&pid=5875 25 sheets $178

total: $280 plus development and contact copy cost. plus time.

Make a hole the bottom and a slit in the top of the box to make room for the lens, add plywood? to strengthen the inside of the lens side of the box camera and glue. Spray dull black paint inside both top and bottom. Use the post-it glue to fix the film and any dust inside. Mount the lens on the box, and your ULF-camera is ready. Consider a plywood bottom and one side to add tripod-fixing. Use the lens on 180-256 and it's usable from 20' to infinity (wild guess)

Øyvind

Now that is a really good post