When did large format become 'large'

[Marcus]

At what size do medium format and large format start & finish? :confused:

 

[DBP]

At what size do medium format and large format start & finish? :confused:

Somewhere between 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 and 4x5. I doubt anyone would call 3x4 medium format, and no one calls 6x7 large format. But 6x9 may be a grey area because of the excellent sheet film cameras made in that size (e.g Horseman 980 and Miniature Speed Graphic) and the various folders and rangefinders.

Where does ULF start?

I'll suggest that large format begins when you start using sheet film and ULF starts when the cameras become too big to handhold.

Other thoughts?

 

[athanasius80]

Good suggestion DBP but it raises some problems. There are 6x9cm sheet film cameras, and you can't handhold a 5x7 field camera (yes I tried it once) easily. From what I've seen, vernacular usage has 3x4 to 8x10 sheet film being large format and ultra large kicks in at 11x14. Just my thoughts.

 

[DBP]

Good suggestion DBP but it raises some problems. There are 6x9cm sheet film cameras, and you can't handhold a 5x7 field camera (yes I tried it once) easily. From what I've seen, vernacular usage has 3x4 to 8x10 sheet film being large format and ultra large kicks in at 11x14. Just my thoughts.

My only experience with 5x7 is with my Century 46, which the manual tells you how to handhold. Basically you brace it against your chest, scale focus, frame with the little reflex finder, and fire the shutter. Doesn't seem much harder than using a smaller folder of the same vintage. Haven't actually shot with it that way, because that isn't what I got it for, but it can be, and apparently was, done.

On the other hand, I have trouble thinking of my Horseman 980 (2x3) as medium format, given that it is so similar to my 4x5 Speed Graphic in weight and ability to shoot handheld.

Frankly I prefer the older usage when describing the cameras.

 

[David H. Bebbington]

It's amazing to me how long photojournalists used the 4x5 Graphics as opposed to the smaller formats that were available at the time.
These smaller cameras would have (and eventually did) make press photography much easier but these hardy souls stuck with the 4x5 format to ensure the quality of their work. Hmmm... these guys would make great....APUGgers!

The last Crown Graphic was built in 1973.

Slight correction - 4x5 lasted as long as it did in press work absolutely not because of a quest for image quality but because of the astonishingly high level of abuse which press plates would take in processing. Any latterday LF fan who develops his/her film with loving care would go into a dead faint if he/she could see how press labs used to work with urgent pix - development for a minute or less in very hot press developer, a subliminal rinse, fix just until the plate cleared, another express rinse, a blast with a hair dryer and into the enlarger still damp (which you can only do with plates!).

Regards,

David

 

[Ole]

Good suggestion DBP but it raises some problems. There are 6x9cm sheet film cameras, and you can't handhold a 5x7 field camera (yes I tried it once) easily. From what I've seen, vernacular usage has 3x4 to 8x10 sheet film being large format and ultra large kicks in at 11x14. Just my thoughts.

Objection!

You can handhold a 5x7" - just as easily as a 4x5".

As to LF / ULF, I wonder where that leaves my 9.5x12" plate camera? Smaller than 11x14", larger than 8x10"...

 

[nworth]

In comparison to 2-1/4X3-1/4, which once was called miniature?

 

[athanasius80]

I stand corrected, but I will not hand hold my 5x7 view camera unless I have a volunteer to catch it when I drop the thing. :0)

 

[Marcus]

I'll suggest that large format begins when you start using sheet film and ULF starts when the cameras become too big to handhold.

This sounds about right!! I guess I'll go for this. Unless somebody doesn't agree........

 

[Roger Hicks]

In the days of Purchase Tax in Britain, the largest 'amateur' format was quarter plate (3-1/4 x 4-1/4 inch, often known as 3x4 in the US, presumably because that's the approximate image size), while 4x5 inch was 'professional' and therefore exempt.

In the 30s 120 and smaller roll-film and 35mm were lumped together as 'miniature' and this usage survived well into the 1950s. It was still in use among a few diehards in the early 1960s.

Cheers,

Roger