4X5, Obtaining Film, Developing, Scaning is it worth the effort? Cost Effective?

walter23

Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
Messages
1,206
Location
Victoria BC
Format
4x5 Format
I am just trying to justify to myself that its worth it. Could anyone else give me their experiene and advice? How do they justtify the price? I need to convince myself! =P

It is a pain in the ass. Sometimes a huge pain in the ass. And colour is very expensive. But at least the volume is low. If you think you can handle low volume, high hassle / expense, then LF will suit you just fine

I shot 20 sheets of colour this last year. The total cost was $130 canadian or more, including processing & film costs. I like two or three of those images enough to bother with. The rest are kind of crappy. Big outlay for 17 shitty images and a couple that I don't mind and one that I actually quite like. But that's just the nature of this type of photography. The learning process is slower, the shooting is more careful and more error-prone, and it may piss you off at times. But it's got its benefits as well.

I use my digital much more than my large format because of the cost - especially for colour. The last year especially as I've had a lot of big life events which have interfered with my focus on LF photography. But there are times that I get into the LF mood and nothing else will fulfill. It's worth experimenting with for awhile at the very least. Don't over-invest in it until you're certain you want to stick with it. Get a decent used camera and lens and work with it for awhile. If it ends up being not worth the effort you can resell your gear, and if you like it - well, keep doing it!
 
OP
OP

l2oBiN

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Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
59
Format
35mm
OldBikerPete

Do you print portrait or horizontal on the HP, ie Height or width =980mm? How good is the visual quality of your print in terms of resolution? Could you post a 100% crop at vs a scaled down version?
A 100Mp file would give which lenght and height in a print at 300ppi?

Palantiri7

Rory, that sounds great, and I wonder if the reslution should actually be better because for a 32X40 print, there is only a 4X enlargement is a 8X10 negative is used while for a 4X5 negative this would equate to a 8X enlargement. Just how much better would a 8X10 print look? Did you ever do a comparrison?
 

JBrunner

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Dec 14, 2005
Messages
7,429
Location
PNdub
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Medium Format
Please take the scanning banter to Hybridphoto.com. It is outside the charter of APUG. Thanks guys.
 
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