Large Format Film…

I have recently added a library of my large format film images to my website. When we talk about large format usually it means 4×5” or larger, this is sheet film and for many years was the standard format for commercial photographers. The camera is called a view camera and is really quite simple; lens board, film plane and bellows in between. I created an illustration of this camera for my logo, and is copied from a monorail style camera. There is quite a bit of skill needed to operate this type of camera correctly. It needs to be mounted on a tripod and is heavy and cumbersome. The rewards for working with this format are many; excellent resolution, control over plane of focus and distortion along with individual development and exposure. “Slow and steady wins the race”, used to be the an accurate saying for this type of photography. Viewing the image on the ground glass is upside down and backwards, a focusing cloth is required when shooting outside, film is and was expensive so exposures are limited and so is time, ( exposure time is often around one second or longer.) Accurate focus is difficult and requires a magnifying device(8x lupe) to judge correctly. As digital became better and achieved the resolution of large formats, photographers were happy to discard these antiquated beasts. Currently with the surge of interest in analog, photographers are going back to this format. I think many of us are fed up with all the complexity of digital and all the menus upon menus and prefer a more classic tactile format. Lastly, nothing is more beautiful than holding and viewing a large negative or transparency.