Choosing a Still Camera : Picking a Large Format Camera

[word2momma]

....it helped me alot along with this video

[cypeapplejuice]

This video should be titled 'An extremely general, unrehearsed ramble about large format and certainly not an expert opinion, or any sort of guidance on how to choose one!'

You make no attempt to explain the things that make LF special, such as camera actions (WTF like?!?), being able to process negs individually, what about explaining the differences between the different types of camera, view, field, monorail etc, or the resolution that a LF plate offers?

retardvillage more like... ·–°

[DeafCoustics]

"'Expert': James Flint

Bio: James Flint has been working with computers professionally for more than 10 years."

...But knows sweet F*CK ALL about Photography!! "EXPERT" village MY ASS!

[caper121]

You said there is no limit to what can be shot with these. How about underwater stuff? Would this be useful for underwater work? Thanks.

[thatbboyAli]

i always wonder why they dont improve technology for 4x5 cameras to make them easier to load and shoot,.. i love to use 4x5s but some times i dont have the time to focus and load the back ..and if something changes you have to take the back off then refocus it ,, by that time it may be to late to capture what you are aiming for...

does anyone know if there has been any advances for these

[mipmipmipmipmip]

What I just learned two days ago by reading a book on photography, is that you can perform perspective correction with these kind of cameras, by performing shifts and inclinations of the film back side. That's a pretty important feature but not mentioned at all!

Actually, after seeing your explanation of medium format as 'more seriously looking towards customers' I was just expecting the large format explanation to be 'you'll look even more serious'.

[ZoneIII]

I misspoke about having an identical camera. It appears that he camera you use in this demo is a Wisner Traditional. Nice camera! It just doesn't have a couple bells and whistles that the Technical Field has but they aren't necessary anyway. I will be posting a similar video soon that goes into a couple aspects that you didn't mention here. Thanks for posting this!

[TOUSNESP]

I have an Anniversary Folmer Graflex from 1943 with a Hugo Meyer from 1930. Once I used Gigabitfilm which is available in 4" X 5" and since that day I only pity the poor button pushers with their pixel conscience.

[Pinguing1]

great medium, althoug it is a shame that polaroid 55 is not in production anymore. But for the rest great medium, and you are more aware of what you are making because it takes more time.

[cortelyou44]

And you can use alternative processes, and contact print your final image.

As with Zonelll, I'm surprised you didn't mention the camera movements - it's like 99% of the reason people use them (yes, like architectural photographers!!!). Then there's the portrait applications with older lenses and long lenses that have a shorter dept of field....

In all, then, I kind of find this film a travesty toward explaining large format cameras.....sorry. =(

[ZoneIII]

I shoot an identical Wisner Technical Field camera myself. Wonderful equipment. You might want to also mention that not only is the film far larger, allowing you to capture more detail, but an equally important advantage of large format is the movements which allow you to control the plane of focus and perspective.

[photographyisfun]

I agree with Zonell. In addition, the shadow details are impressive when the image is captured properly.