Will I get beaten up if ...

[Leigh]

I'll be carrying a sissy little-girl 4x5 with RFB.

Wow...

A pink Speed Graphic with lace around the bed and a little phony rose on top of the rangefinder.

The mind boggles.

- Leigh

[Old-N-Feeble]

It'th not pink... it'th THAMON!!

[Leigh]

Sorry, I sought it was pink. Must have been those *(**@# CFL lights.

- Leigh

[Old-N-Feeble]

Yeah, tho-th theeFL light-th meth thingth up for thure.

[paulr]

Anyone citing a twenty inch "rule," please remember that once upon a time 4x5 was considered a small format. Definitions evolve, and it's not just a question of standards getting erroded. Considering the relative quality of film and optics a hundred years ago, it makes sense that size expectations were higher.

Digital backs and the corresponding lenses strike me as an important evolution, one that should inspire us to rethink our size definitions.

The people I know who use these cameras call them Medium Format Digital. Most of them don't care if big camera people let them into the club. But for our own sake, I think we're short-changing the richness of content on this forum if we close our minds to these remarkable cameras. The slowness and fussiness of working with them should satisfy even the crustiest luddite, and the results are stunning enough to speak for themselves.

[Leigh]

... please remember that once upon a time 4x5 was considered a small format.

I've always thought that 4x5 was "invented" by Graflex, as being the largest size that could be conveniently carried and used in a "press camera" environment. I was easily created by quartering 8x10 film.

Just speculation on my part. I haven't researched the history.

- Leigh

On edit:
I believe the 4x5 format was popularized by the US military in WWII. Huge numbers of Graflex cameras
were used by combat photographers throughout the conflict, in all theaters of operation.

The 35mm format enjoyed a similar boost in popularity during the Korean war, for the same reason.

[Steve Smith]

I've always thought that 4x5 was "invented" by Graflex, as being the largest size that could be conveniently carried and used in a "press camera"

Didn't they also make a 5x7 press camera?


Steve

[Leigh]

Didn't they also make a 5x7 press camera?

One was mentioned here recently, in a different thread. It's possible.
I've never seen one, but I'm not a Graflex expert.

I have no idea where the 5x7 format came from. It's not an obvious derivation of 8x10.
Possibly from one of the plate sizes???

- Leigh

[Steve Smith]

I have always thought of it as a strange size too. 5x8 would make more sense.

Unless perhaps we think about contact printing to paper as 5x7 is a standard paper size. But is it standard because 5x7 film existed already or did the paper size come first?


Steve.

[Leigh]

I just realized that 5x7 contact-printed on an 8x10 sheet of paper yields a 1 1/2" border on all sides.

- Leigh