TAKE THIS POLL!!!

Your opinion on large format cameras.

  • Total voters
    212

Jim Noel

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Mar 6, 2005
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Large Format
Your poll does not list a place for me. I use 4x5, 5x7, 8x10 and 7x17.
The 5x7 gets as much use as all the rest combined.
 

darinwc

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Dec 14, 2003
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Sacramento,
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Ditto! I am multi-format... digital, 35mm, medium, and 4x5.

Right tool for the right job!
 
OP
OP

Chris Breitenstein

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May 29, 2007
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Tucson Az
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Multi Format
Ray Heath said:
g'day Chris

what poll?

what is your question/comment/interest?
Click to expand...

I noticed the poll regarding individuals who had an interest in shooting self portraits and began wondering what the overall opinion regarding Large format cameras is. In my experience shooting LF is rather "elitist" or "cult like," not that we are any better in any way. And in addition most people who consider themselves well informed photographers (and in fact MANY students majoring or minoring in photography) have no idea what it means when you say "I shoot 4x5" or "I shoot 8x10" etc... I guess my question would be two fold. Is my experience indicative of the entire field? If so, then is this some indication that photography programs need an over hall? perhaps they should be a college in and of themselves, rather then tacking them on to either a communication or art schools.

I originally wanted to see what is the over-arching view on large format cameras in correlation with the gender of the photographer. Then I started thinking and I realized that I only know of two women shooting view cameras (Susan Huber and Paula Chamlee) and came to the conclusion that those would statistics probably be rather predictable and mundane.

Some people are equipment junkies: I happen to be an information junkie just starting his collection.

I hope I answered your question.

Yours;
 

copake_ham

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Jan 26, 2006
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4,091
Location
NYC or Copak
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35mm
Poll?

I thought that's what RFF is for.

Don't they do lots of polls over there? Didn't they do the underwear poll? And the toilet paper poll?

Are we now doing polls here on APUG all the time too?
 

ragc

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Joined
Nov 11, 2006
Messages
187
Location
Atlanta, GA,
Format
Large Format
A category stating LF = other formats would have been more appropriate.
 

k_jupiter

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Feb 3, 2004
Messages
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Location
san jose, ca
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Multi Format
How can you be this bored?
F**k polls.
LF is what it is.

tim in san jose
 

johnnywalker

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Sep 23, 2002
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2,323
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British Colu
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Multi Format
I shoot 35mm and 4x5, so I'd be 4.5 on the poll.
 

Alex Hawley

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Joined
Jul 17, 2003
Messages
2,892
Location
Kansas, USA
Format
Large Format
Chris Breitenstein said:
Then I started thinking and I realized that I only know of two women shooting view cameras (Susan Huber and Paula Chamlee) -
Click to expand...

Chris, there's lots of women who use LF. Here on APUG, there's colrehogan, Shmoo, Dorothy Blum Cooper, and Nicole that I can think of right off the top of the head. I'm sure there are more. Here's a lady who works primarily with Polaroid Type 55.
 

SuzanneR

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Massachusetts
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I've played around a bit with 4x5, but tend to reach for MF gear (love the 6x7 format!!) far more frequently. Maybe, when my kids slow down a bit (hah!!) I'll shoot more 4x5. I don't have a way to enlarge them, though, and I'd like to be able to do that as well as contact prints... so that's another reason I haven't committed very many pictures to sheet film. Or I've just opted for Polaroid!!
 

noseoil

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Oct 6, 2003
Messages
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Tucson
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Multi Format
I use milti-format, depends on the setting, subject, light, etc. Will use M/F today for a group portrait. Used 35mm last night to shoot some of the flooding from yesterday's rains. tim

P.S. Ria here on apug shoots a LOT of large format (friend from tucson), but the format varies.
 

MurrayMinchin

Membership Council
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Jan 9, 2005
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5,481
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North Coast BC Canada
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I use 4x5 for all personal work and a 35mm (K1000) for family snap-shots. My 4x5 is the best camera for me because;

- sheet film means each negative gets appropriate development.
- its negative is large enough for my maximum print size of 16x20.
- it can be carried off trail through the bush all day.
- it fits easily in a sea kayak.
- it shrugs off bucketing rain and 4 foot snowfalls.
- it perfectly suits the way I see and work.
- it's growing ruggedly handsome after so many years of hard use, just like me

Murray
 
Last edited by a moderator:

jonw

Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2004
Messages
469
Location
Boise, Idaho
Format
Multi Format
I use most formats. This weekend hiking and camping in the Sawtooth Mountain Range of Idaho, I used my V8 Deardorff with 8x10 and 4x5 backs, but for the hike up Iron Creek Trail toward Sawtooth Lake I carried my OM-4with a 50mm macro lens. My body truly appreciated the 35mm on that hike.
 

panastasia

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Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
624
Location
Dedham, Ma,
Format
Med. Format Pan
Like SuzanneR, I also love 6x7 format but do use a 6x9 monorail view at times - for backpacking uphill - and love the extra control with movements, but this doesn't fit any of the poll catagories listed.

If I decide to move up to "LF" I would probably look for a vintage 8X10 (or 5x7 as a minimum) and do occasional contact prints as I also have no way to enlarge them, and don't intend to use a bigger enlarger than 6x9. I use a 35mm w/28-100 zoom as a sort of hand held sketch camera and enlarge only to optimum resolution 5x7 prints (sketches for later MF work). I'd find it most interesting to compare these 5x7's with a same size contact print. I'm sure the difference would be striking!
 

sly

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Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
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Location
Nanaimo
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Multi Format
I shoot MORE images in other formats (including digital - easy to shoot quantity in digital!), but 4x5 is my current passion and what I'm working hardest at. I like that I have to take my time, that a handful of images can be a good outing. Sly
 

Monophoto

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Aug 27, 2004
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Saratoga Spr
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Multi Format
Not trying to flame anyone, but this poll is meaningless.

The structure of the questions is based on the premise that they will be answered by a population that is a cross section of the photographic world. But in fact, respondents self-select, and LF photographers are far more likely to respond than others. Hence, it's not possible to read any meaning at all into the results.
 

jovo

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Jacksonville
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Monophoto said:
Not trying to flame anyone, but this poll is meaningless.
Click to expand...

Maybe so, but it's fun to see who has identified themselves as using what they do.

Right now, I'm enjoying the rediscovery of my C220 and square format. I'm sick of schlepping the Shen Hao, and the P67 is getting a rest while I explore 6x6 instead. But, by September I may be using one of todays exiles exclusively. Besides, I didn't notice anyone flaming another's choice, so....eh, what's to hurt?
 

Sirius Glass

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Jan 18, 2007
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50,382
Location
Southern California
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Multi Format
What about "I have never had the opportunity to try one."?

Steve
 
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