Couldn't find a thread featuring this format so I thought I'd start one... I just began this a few months ago with a split dark slide on an 8x10 camera. I started out stitching two or three 4x5s and decided to try out 4x10 to get it all in one shot.

I originally wanted to use my Schneider 110XL with the 8x10 but after using this setup I encountered a few obstacles:

1) Since the split dark slide forces you to compose using the lower or upper half of the film you will often need a lens designed for 8x10 with room for movements in order to compose without getting distortion (using camera movements).

-as an addendum to this, for some images I have stuck with stitching 4x5s in order to get a 4x10 image or even longer if the lens permits, because 1) it allows me to use the center of the image circle, thereby optimizing the optical quality of the lens and
2) you can usually squeeze more than 10 inches out of a lens with a huge image circle if you camera has ample shift movement. The main problem with multiple 4x5s is making sure one doesn't fumble one of the many steps in shooting 3 pieces of film
while shifting the standards, as well as checking focus from the extremes of shift.

2) Using a short lens such as the 110mm on 8x10 requires a lot of bellows flexibility, so as to align your composition along the top of bottom of the film and correct for optical distortion. At this point a bag bellows would make things a lot easier for me.


A most recent one,

E100G, 300mm lens



Curious to see what others have....