Renissance in 5x7 format?

[Tom Duffy]

I went to Adorama last week to buy some 5x7 Tri-x and they had a good number of boxes with an expiration date in late 2008 - a good sign. I use my 5x7 with 3 lenses, a 150, 300, and 600 and it really covers all the bases. It would be nice if there were a larger selection of color film, though...

Take care,
Tom

 

[removed account4]

my first experiences with 5x7 format were as a printer/lab guy for a portrait photographer trained in the 30s. she had an 8x10 camera ( studio ansco ) reduced down for 5x7. i hadn't used anything bigger than 4x5 and seeing and printing 5x7s ( she didn't contact print unless they were proofs ) really turned me into a believer. split 5x7s for regular bread and butter sittings, and full 5x7 for the karsh-seque rembrant lighting + formal portraits she was famous for. down the road a bit when i was building myown inventory of equipment, i was talking to a "living room / show" dealer i sometimes buy equipment from. we were talking about what i was up to ( doing streetscape documentations, habs work and portraits ) and as i was buying my 210/370 symmar --- he and his wife said " do we have a camera for you! it is a 5x7, and most of your 4x5 lenses will fit, yadda yadda yadda ... and the next thing i know 5 minutes later i am 150$ poorer ( not counting the symmar ) and a 5x7 camera richer.

when i bought it, i kind of had reservations, but now, it is one of those formats i can't live without.

john

 

[Russ Young]

Another vote for 5x7's size & proportion. My second large format camera (1976) was an ugly gray tailboard, built like a rock, bought when a studio closed in Dallas. I removed the gray paint and found a glorious cherry wood underneath. Indestructible and a large lens board as well.
Once I moved into the Rocky Mountain west, landscapes became the calling and it was not the most appropriate camera. For once I was in the right place at the right time and a mint Korona 5x7 with the extension rail showed up in a local shop window at $125, along with 3 holders, and a 150 Tessar. Who was I to resist? It's only real failing was the small lens board.
I should never have parted with that camera - but absolutely love the Canham 5x7 that replaced it. It has a 4x5 reducing back and a 4x10 back & bellows. Precise, stable, long bellows draw. They'll have to pry it out of my fingers after rigor mortis sets in...
I believe 5x7 would have been much more popular with photographers had either St. Edward or St. Ansel used it... but that keeps the prices down for independent thinkers.

 

[Ted Harris]

5x7 Film Availability

5x7/13x18 film is available in much greater variety than many realize. You may have to search a bit for your supplier but it is there. See the table I did on all available emulsions at http://www.viewcamera.com/archives.html (third down on the list)

 

[Jeremy]

Mark down another fan of 5x7. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go home this evening and load up my holders so I can do some night shooting.

 

[Nathan Smith]

Hi Roger, glad to see you here. I've been enjoying your articles in the on-line "Large Format Journal" -- largely because your first article featured the 5x7 format. Validated all of my own reasons for getting a 5x7 Eastman 2D a couple of years back.

Nathan

Dear Brad,

Every 5x7 user I have met (and that includes 13x18cm and half-plate users) does indeed see it as the ideal format: big enough to contact print (4x5 really isn't) but small enough to enlarge (5x7 enlargers aren't THAT much bigger than 4x5, and a LOT smaller and easier to find than 8x10). Once you try it, you're hooked.

For years I suspected it was the ideal format, purely on theoretical grounds, but coukdn't find a camera at the right price -- and then, by chance, about six or seven years ago I got two and a half in one year, a Gandolfi Variant, a Linhof Technika V and a 5x7 back (the half) for my De Vere 8x10 monorail. I was delighted to learn that I was right: it is ideal.

I've had two or three articles published where I plug it as such (one in Shutterbug), and I'll be pushing it again in the next Shutterbug buyer's guide. I also commend it highly in the free module in the Photo School at www.rogerandfrances.com where I run through the large formats that are currently available, and why you'd choose one over another.

I don't shoot a vast amount of LF, even though I have cameras from 6x7cm (Linhof) to 12x15 inch (Gandolfi) because it's a hassle -- but with 5x7, for most subjects, the hassle is at the minimum and the rewards are at the maximum.

Film choice? Still plenty from Ilford -- and remember that you can always switch to 13x18 or half-plate, because the holders have the same external dimensions and differ only internally.

Cheers,

Roger

 

[psvensson]

The 5x7" Press Graflex and Graflex Home Portrait cameras are the largest practical SLR's around that aren't extreme rarities, so that's another attraction.

Haargh! I wish I hadn't seen that camera. I want negs big enough to contact print from a camera I can hand hold, and there aren't a lot of choices. Anyway, if I was getting into large format, I'd skip 4x5 and go for 5x7 to get contact-print size negs.

 

[removed account4]

The 5x7" Press Graflex and Graflex Home Portrait cameras are the largest practical SLR's around that aren't extreme rarities, so that's another attraction.

The Canham 5x7"-->6x17cm back probably has done something to boost the popularity of the format as well.

there is a 5x7 press graflex right now on FLEABay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Graflex-Press-G...621601051QQcategoryZ15247QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

wish i had the umph to get another camera, but seems that i am all camera'd out these days ...

 

[Emile de Leon]

I use a Anba Ikeda 5x7. At 3.8 lbs it really is a no-brainer for the most portable camera with the biggest neg. Emile/www.deleon-ulf.com

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

there is a 5x7 press graflex right now on FLEABay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Graflex-Press-G...621601051QQcategoryZ15247QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

wish i had the umph to get another camera, but seems that i am all camera'd out these days ...

Looks like a good one, and has a hard-to-find bag mag, but note that it's a plate mag, so it will need film sheaths if it doesn't already have them. I have a plate mag like this one with film sheaths and a later film mag. The film mag is smaller and lighter.

 

[DBP]

wish i had the umph to get another camera, but seems that i am all camera'd out these days ...

Are such things possible?

 

[removed account4]

Looks like a good one, and has a hard-to-find bag mag, but note that it's a plate mag, so it will need film sheaths if it doesn't already have them. I have a plate mag like this one with film sheaths and a later film mag. The film mag is smaller and lighter.

and the seller is igor's, he is a good-egg (bought a lens from him a while back) ..

 

[Jeremy]

and the seller is igor's, he is a good-egg (bought a lens from him a while back) ..

ditto

 

[climbabout]

yeah for 5x7

I might as well post my .02 worth - I shot with a 5x7 Deardorff for many years and love the format - I have a modified omega 4x5 enlarger that I made into a 5x7 with an aristo cold light. Recently I got bit by the contact bug and wanted to move up to 8x10, so I sold the 5x7 Deardorff for an 8x10, but I made sure I got a 5x7 back so I could still enlarge if I wanted to or contact print the 5x7's. I enjoy the 8x10 aspect as well, having shot hasselblad for many years, so I now have the best of both worlds, but the 5x7 aspect is still my favorite.
Climbabout

 

[BradS]

Like Q.T. Luong and several others here, I'm starting to think that the Canham Traditional or a (new?) Deardorff with both 5x7 and 4x5 backs is about as good as it gets.

 

[timothyhyde]

Like Q.T. Luong and several others here, I'm starting to think that the Canham Traditional or a (new?) Deardorff with both 5x7 and 4x5 backs is about as good as it gets.

Well, not so fast. My Ebony SV57U is about as good as any camera I have ever owned, and it comes with a 4x5 back included.

I do love the format and have learned film workarounds (buying in Japan and/or cutting 8x10 sheets) for both b&w and color, so I think it will continue to be my most-used format.

 

[BradS]

Well, not so fast. My Ebony SV57U is about as good as any camera I have ever owned, and it comes with a 4x5 back included.

I do love the format and have learned film workarounds (buying in Japan and/or cutting 8x10 sheets) for both b&w and color, so I think it will continue to be my most-used format.

Oh, yes. Of course...how could I forget Ebony? I have an Ebony RW-45...and love it! The Ebonies are a tad bit on the spendy side of the spectrum though

 

[Ted Harris]

i was thinking about 5x7, but with nobody to develop color film (aside from the larger, more expensive jobos), no polaroid films, and difficulty of finding 5x7 enlargers (on ebay and the internet in general), i think it's more of a bw+contact printing thing.

There are still a number of labs that can handle 5x7. One of the is Praus, one of the sponsors of APUG. If you want to go through the agony of tray development or tube development for E6 I suppose you could but I use a Jobo ATL 2300 and expert drums, yes a bit pricy but the volume of film I process had it paid for quickly. No tto mention you can often find the ATL2xxx series machines priced about the same as the CPP's simply because they are large and are coming from labs surplusing them. For that matter, the expert drums work fine AFAIK on the CPP/CPA as well as the ATL's.

As far as the enlarging goes, if you track back you will note that there are lots of 5x7 enlargers available at very reasonable prices (assuming you have the space for the column). Beyond that, if you are thinking color, you should take a look at prints from a scanned 5x7 transparency or color negative. No digital v. wet arguments here .... just a note that it is another way and one that is worth looking at for color especially. While I still do a lot of wet processing and enlarging of 5x7 black and white negatives (in fact am even searching for a new 5x7 or 8x10 enlarger now) I went to digital for color several years ago based on a combination of cost and quality.

Finally, Polaroid. While there is no 5x7 Polaroid film available there is a neat conversion sheath available from Midwest Photo. It is a 5x7 size holder into which you slide your Polaroid holder. They have them made in Italy. Of course you can achieve the same result by switching from a 5x7 to 4x5 back but on some cameras that will result in focus shift .... plus, the sheath is a faster more elegant and less expensive solution, IIRC they run 50-75.

Like many others I am a devotee of the Canham Traditional 57/45. Mine has been chugging along now for 10+years. I love that it has the looks of a fine wood field but is really a metal camaera inside a wooden box.

 

[Ole]

I develop my colour films in a print drum on a CPE2. No problem at all.

Finding a good 5x7" enlarger is easy, as easy as finding a good 4x5" enlarger. Sometimes they're cheaper too, due to the size perhaps? I know that I need no better enlarger than my Durst 138S for any size film up to 13x18cm!

 

[BradS]

i was thinking about 5x7, but with nobody to develop color film (aside from the larger, more expensive jobos), no polaroid films, and difficulty of finding 5x7 enlargers (on ebay and the internet in general), i think it's more of a bw+contact printing thing.

I've contacted Calypso and they say they can do it and do it at a reasonable price.

 

[Len Robertson]

Climbabout - There have been many posts regarding the Beseler 4X5 to 8X10 conversion. Yours is the first I recall on converting a 4X5 enlarger to 5X7. Could you give details? Negative carrier? Does the Aristo cold light clear the column on your Omega okay? Does the Aristo give even illumination across 5X7?

 

[mjs]

Ditto on the Beseler enlarger conversion: if I could convert my Beseler 45 to a 5x7 enlarger I'd probably never shoot 4x5 again. If there's a way to do that, I'd love to know about it.

mjs

 

[climbabout]

4x5 to 5x7 enlarger conversion

Climbabout - There have been many posts regarding the Beseler 4X5 to 8X10 conversion. Yours is the first I recall on converting a 4X5 enlarger to 5X7. Could you give details? Negative carrier? Does the Aristo cold light clear the column on your Omega okay? Does the Aristo give even illumination across 5X7?

I converted the omega from 4x5 color by removing the color head and building a box out of wood about 5" deep and slightly larger than the aristo head - I believe the aristo head is actually a 7x9" light source. This box mounts where the old color head once was. The reason for the box was to move the light source and negative farther away from the lens and to allow the 5x7 projection to pass through the smaller opening where the 4x5 image once passed from the color head - think of this as sort of a fixed bellows. On top of this box I built a hinged frame to hold the head and the negative carrier is homemade as well. Nothing more than a frosted piece of glass which has a clear piece of glass hinged to it with photographic tape the carrier is masked off to 5x7 with the same black photographic tape - the boxe has a rabbeted channel under the hinged section that this carrier slides into. The column on the enlarge is slated away from the wall so there are no clearance issues. It's a very simple setup which has served me for over 20 years.

 

[climbabout]

Climbabout - There have been many posts regarding the Beseler 4X5 to 8X10 conversion. Yours is the first I recall on converting a 4X5 enlarger to 5X7. Could you give details? Negative carrier? Does the Aristo cold light clear the column on your Omega okay? Does the Aristo give even illumination across 5X7?

As a follow up - if you folks are interested I can post some pics tommorow I'll check back on this thread or you can pm me.
Climbabout
Tim Jones

 

[Dave Wooten]

As a follow up - if you folks are interested I can post some pics tommorow I'll check back on this thread or you can pm me.
Climbabout
Tim Jones

Tim posting some photos of the project would be great !