Large format
Encyclopedia
120 film
120 is a film format for still photography introduced by Kodak for their Brownie No. 2 in 1901. It was originally intended for amateur photography but was later superseded in this role by 135 film...
), and much larger than the 24×36 mm (~ 1.0 x 1.5 inch) frame of 35 mm
135 film
The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format...
format.
The main advantage of large format, film or digital, is higher resolution. A 4×5 inch image has about 16 times the area, and thus 16× the total resolution, of a 35 mm frame.
In early photography, large format was all there was, and before enlargers were common, it was normal to just make 1:1 contact print
Contact print
A contact print is a photographic image produced from film; sometimes from a film negative, and sometimes from a film positive. The defining characteristic of a contact print is that the photographic result is made by exposing through the film negative or positive, onto a light sensitive material...
s from a 4×5, 5×7, or 8×10 inch negative.
The most common large format is 4×5 inches, which was the size of common cameras used in the 1930s-1950's, like the Speed Graphic, Crown Graphic, Graphlex, and many others. Less common formats include quarter-plate, 5×7 inches, 8×10 inches (20×25 cm); the size of many old 1920's era Kodak etc. cameras (various versions of Kodak 1, 2, 3, and Master View cameras, to much later Sinar etc. monorail studio cameras), 11×14 inches, 16×20 inches, 20×24 inches, various panoramic or "banquet" formats (such as 4×10 and 8×20 inches), as well as metric formats, including 9×12 cm, 10×13 cm, and 13×18 cm, and assorted old and current aerial image formats of 9×9 inches, 9×18 inches (K17, K18, K19, K22 etc)), using roll film of 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, or 10 inches width or digital sensors, view camera
View camera
The view camera is a type of camera first developed in the era of the Daguerreotype and still in use today, though with many refinements. It comprises a flexible bellows which forms a light-tight seal between two adjustable standards, one of which holds a lens, and the other a viewfinder or a...
s (including pinhole camera
Pinhole camera
A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens and with a single small aperture – effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. Light from a scene passes through this single point and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box...
s), reproduction / process cameras, and x-ray film and digital cameras.
Above 8×10 inches, the formats are often referred to as Ultra Large Format (ULF) and may be 11×14, 16×20, 20×24 inches, or as large as film, plates, sensors, or cameras are available; many large formats, 24×24, 36x36, 48x48 inches etc., are horizontal cameras designed to make big negatives for contact printing onto press printing plates.
The Polaroid 20×24 camera is one of the largest format instant camera
Instant camera
The instant camera is a type of camera that generates a developed film image. The most popular types to use self-developing film were formerly made by Polaroid Corporation....
s currently in common usage, and can be hired from Polaroid agents in various countries. Many well-known photographers have used the 235 pounds (106.6 kg), wheeled-chassis Polaroid.
Control
Most, but not all, large-format cameras are view cameraView camera
The view camera is a type of camera first developed in the era of the Daguerreotype and still in use today, though with many refinements. It comprises a flexible bellows which forms a light-tight seal between two adjustable standards, one of which holds a lens, and the other a viewfinder or a...
s, with fronts and backs called "Standards", that allow the photographer to better control rendering of perspective
Perspective (graphical)
Perspective in the graphic arts, such as drawing, is an approximate representation, on a flat surface , of an image as it is seen by the eye...
and increase apparent depth of field. Architectural and close-up photographers in particular benefit greatly from this ability. These allow the front and/or back of the camera to be shifted up/down and left/right (useful for architectural images where the scene is higher than the camera, and product images where the scene is lower than the camera), and tilted out of parallel with each other left/right, up/down, or both; based on the Scheimpflug principle
Scheimpflug principle
The Scheimpflug principle is a geometric rule that describes the orientation of the plane of focus of an optical system when the lens plane is not parallel to the image plane. It is commonly applied to the use of camera movements on a view camera...
. The shift and tilt movements make it possible to solve otherwise impossible depth-of-field problems, and to change perspective rendering, and create special effects that would be impossible with a conventional fixed-plane fixed-lens camera.
Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
' photographs, and those of the other Group f/64
Group f/64
Group f/64 was a group of seven 20th century San Francisco photographers who shared a common photographic style characterized by sharp-focused and carefully framed images seen through a particularly Western viewpoint...
photographers, demonstrate how the use of front (lens plane) and back (film plane
Film plane
A film plane is the area inside any image taking device with a lens and a digital sensor or film; such as a camera. The film plane varies in distance from the lens focal point in each manufacturer...
) adjustments can secure great apparent depth of field
Depth of field
In optics, particularly as it relates to film and photography, depth of field is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image...
when using the movements available on large-format view cameras.
Operation
A number of actions need to be taken to use a typical large format camera, resulting in a slower, often more contemplative, photographic style. For example, film loading using sheet film holders requires a dark space to load and unload the film, typically a changing bag or darkroom, although prepackaged film magazines and large format roll films have also been used in the past.A tripod is typically used for view camera work, but some models are designed for hand-held use. These "technical cameras" have separate viewfinders and rangefinder
Rangefinder
A rangefinder is a device that measures distance from the observer to a target, for the purposes of surveying, determining focus in photography, or accurately aiming a weapon. Some devices use active methods to measure ; others measure distance using trigonometry...
s for faster handling.
In general large format camera use, the scene is composed on the camera's ground glass
Ground glass
Ground glass is glass whose surface has been ground to produce a flat but rough finish.Ground glass surfaces have many applications, ranging from mere ornamentation on windows and table glassware to scientific uses in optics and laboratory glassware....
, and then a film holder is fitted to the camera back prior to exposure. A separate Polaroid back using instant film is used by some photographers, allowing previewing of the composition, correctness of exposure and depth of field before committing the image to film to be developed later. Failure to "Polaroid" an exposure risks discovery later, at the time of film development, that there was an error in camera setup.
Uses
Contact print
A contact print is a photographic image produced from film; sometimes from a film negative, and sometimes from a film positive. The defining characteristic of a contact print is that the photographic result is made by exposing through the film negative or positive, onto a light sensitive material...
ing on the printing plate, hence it was widely used in press camera
Press camera
A press camera is a medium or large format camera suitable for use by press photographers.Press cameras were widely used from the 1900s through the early 1960s and commonly had the following features:* collapsibility into strong, compact boxes...
s. This was done well into 1940s and 1950s, even with the advent of more convenient and compact medium format or 35 mm
135 film
The term 135 was introduced by Kodak in 1934 as a designation for cartridge film wide, specifically for still photography. It quickly grew in popularity, surpassing 120 film by the late 1960s to become the most popular photographic film format...
roll-film cameras which started to appear in the 1930s. The 35 mm and medium format SLR
Single-lens reflex camera
A single-lens reflex camera is a camera that typically uses a semi-automatic moving mirror system that permits the photographer to see exactly what will be captured by the film or digital imaging system, as opposed to pre-SLR cameras where the view through the viewfinder could be significantly...
which appeared in the mid-1950s were soon adopted by press photographers.
Large-format photography is not limited to film; large digital camera back
Digital camera back
A digital camera back is a device that attaches to the back of a camera in place of a film holder and contains an electronic image sensor. This lets cameras that were designed to use film take digital photographs...
s are available to fit large-format cameras. These are either medium-format digital backs adapted to fit large-format cameras (sometimes resulting in cropped images), step and repeat Multishot systems, or scanning backs (which scan the image area in the manner of a flat-bed scanner
Image scanner
In computing, an image scanner—often abbreviated to just scanner—is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting, or an object, and converts it to a digital image. Common examples found in offices are variations of the desktop scanner where the document is placed on a glass...
). Scanning backs can take seconds or even minutes to capture an image. When using a Sinar
Sinar
Sinar AG is a Swiss company producing medium format and large format cameras.The name SINAR is explained as an acronym for "Studio, Industrie, Natur, Architektur, Reproduktion", though in , the acronym is explained as "Sach-, Industrie-, Natur-, undArchitekturfotografie sowie Reproduktion"...
Macroscan unit and 54H data files, over 1 GB of data is produced.
Large format, both film-based and digital, is still used for many applications, for example: landscape photography, advertising photos, fine-art photography, scientific applications and generally for images that will be enlarged to a high magnification while requiring a high level of detail.
Recordation of historic resources for the National Park Service (NPS) documentation programs: the Historic American Buildings Survey, the Historic American Engineering Record, and the Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS, HAER and HALS) requires large format film-based photography. 4×5", 5×7", and 8×10" large format film formats are the only acceptable formats for inclusion in the HABS/HAER/HALS collections at the Library of Congress. 4x5 and 5x7 are generally used in the field (5×7" is preferred for very significant buildings) and 8×10" is generally utilized for photo-duplication of historic photographs, documents and blueprints. Through HABS/HAER/HALS, buildings and sites of historic significance are recorded with large format cameras and black and white film and using techniques that document the key features of the historic resource with special care not to distort the angles and views. This rectified photography can be accomplished with large format cameras by keeping the film, lens and subject perfectly parallel. Smaller format cameras need to be tilted to view high or low subjects, but the same subjects can be captured by shifting the lens element of a large format camera up or down to keep the film, lens and subject planes parallel.
HABS/HAER/HALS also requires the increased resolution of large format film. A sheet of 5×7" film has almost twice the resolution of 4×5" film, and 4×5" is almost 16 times larger than a 35 mm film image (24×36 mm). This added negative size not only allows for more detail, but the large format polyester film is also far more durable than acetate 35 mm stock. HABS/HAER/HALS requires that all submissions to the Library of Congress include the original film (archivally washed) and it must also include contact prints on fiber-based paper – these contact are the same size as the film being submitted, 4×5", 5×7", 8×10" and the large size allows people to readily see the prints, while 35 mm contacts would be too small and would require magnification.
The Library of Congress, for its American Memories site (scans of old images and maps), uses various large format digital scans, in the current JPEG 2000
JPEG 2000
JPEG 2000 is an image compression standard and coding system. It was created by the Joint Photographic Experts Group committee in 2000 with the intention of superseding their original discrete cosine transform-based JPEG standard with a newly designed, wavelet-based method...
format (which allows quick small images, remote tiling, remote enlargement, etc), and the older MrSID
MrSID
-External links:* from LizardTech's website...
, JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
, and TIFF
Tagged Image File Format
TIFF is a file format for storing images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and both amateur and professional photographers in general. As of 2009, it is under the control of Adobe Systems...
formats.
In the printing industry, very large fixed cameras were also used to make large films for the preparation of lithographic plates before computer to film
Computer to film
Computer to Film is a print workflow involving the printing from a computer, straight to film. This film is then burned onto a lithographic plate, using a plate burner. The plate is then put on an offset printing press to make a product...
and computer to plate
Computer to plate
Computer to plate is an imaging technology used in modern printing processes. In this technology, an image created in a Desktop Publishing application is output directly to a printing plate....
techniques were introduced. These are generally referred to as a 'process camera
Process camera
A process camera is a specialised form of camera used for mass reproduction of graphic materials. The original document was photographed and the negatives produced were used to produce printing plates - usually via some kind of process where the negative was put on top of the printing plate and...
' and consist of vertically-mounted models for smaller work and horizontal units mounted on rails for very large works such as maps and plans.
Photographers who have used large format
- Ansel AdamsAnsel AdamsAnsel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
- Takashi AmanoTakashi Amanois a photographer, designer and Aquarist.His interest in aquaria led him to create the Japanese company Aqua Design Amano.Takashi Amano is one of the most influential people in the freshwater aquascaping community. He can largely be credited with introducing Japanese gardening concepts such as...
(8×20" and 11×14") - Richard AvedonRichard AvedonRichard Avedon was an American photographer. An obituary published in The New York Times said that "his fashion and portrait photographs helped define America's image of style, beauty and culture for the last half-century."-Photography career:Avedon was born in New York City to a Jewish Russian...
- Tina BarneyTina BarneyTina Barney is an American artist photographer best known for her large-scale portraits of her family and close friends, many of whom are well-to-do denizens of New York and New England....
- Bernd and Hilla BecherBernd and Hilla BecherBernard "Bernd" Becher , and Hilla Becher, née Wobeser , were German artists working as a collaborative duo. They are best known for their extensive series of photographic images, or typologies, of industrial buildings and structures.- Biography :Bernd Becher was born in Siegen...
- Margaret Bourke-WhiteMargaret Bourke-WhiteMargaret Bourke-White was an American photographer and documentary photographer. She is best known as the first foreign photographer permitted to take pictures of Soviet Industry, the first female war correspondent and the first female photographer for Henry Luce's Life magazine, where her...
- Richard BryantRichard Bryant (photographer)Richard Bryant is an internationally respected architectural photographer, based in the UK. He was the first photographer to be granted an honorary fellowship of the RIBA...
- Christopher BurkettChristopher BurkettChristopher Burkett is an American landscape photographer, known not only for his large format photography of woodlands but also as a former brother in an Orthodox Christian religious order who, Vincent Rossi writes, has "transformed photographic technique into a spiritual endeavor."Burkett's...
- Edward BurtynskyEdward BurtynskyEdward Burtynsky OC is a Canadian photographer and artist who has achieved international recognition for his large-format photographs of industrial landscapes. His work is housed in more than fifteen major museums including the Guggenheim Museum, the National Gallery of Canada, and the Bibliothèque...
- Clyde ButcherClyde ButcherClyde Butcher is an American photographer known for wilderness photography of the Florida landscape.-Background:Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Clyde Butcher led a nomadic childhood with his parents until eventually settling in Southern California at the age of 18. He attended California...
- Gregory CrewdsonGregory CrewdsonGregory Crewdson is an American photographer who is best known for elaborately staged scenes of American homes and neighborhoods.-Life and career:Crewdson was born in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY...
- Rineke DijkstraRineke DijkstraRineke Dijkstra is a female Dutch photographer.-Life and work:Dijkstra concentrates on single portraits, and usually works in series, looking at groups such as adolescents, clubbers, and soldiers. Her subjects are often shown standing, facing the camera, against a minimal background...
- Elsa DorfmanElsa DorfmanElsa Dorfman is a portrait photographer who works in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is now known for her use of a Polaroid 20 by 24 inch camera from which she creates large prints...
(20×24") - William EgglestonWilliam EgglestonWilliam Eggleston , is an American photographer. He is widely credited with increasing recognition for color photography as a legitimate artistic medium to display in art galleries—which, until the 1970s, often tended to privilege work by photographers making black-and-white prints.- Early years...
- Walker EvansWalker EvansWalker Evans was an American photographer best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration documenting the effects of the Great Depression. Much of Evans's work from the FSA period uses the large-format, 8x10-inch camera...
- Andreas FeiningerAndreas FeiningerAndreas Bernhard Lyonel Feininger was a German American photographer, and writer on photographic technique, noted for his dynamic black-and-white scenes of Manhattan and studies of the structure of natural objects....
- Emmet GowinEmmet GowinEmmet Gowin is an American photographer.After graduating from Richmond Professional Institute in 1965, Gowin attended the Rhode Island School of Design...
- Peter GowlandPeter GowlandPeter Gowland was a famous American glamour photographer and actor...
- Timothy Greenfield-SandersTimothy Greenfield-SandersTimothy Greenfield-Sanders is an American portrait photographer known for his strikingly intimate portraits of world leaders and major cultural figures. The majority of his work is shot in large format, 11x14 inch black-and-white film and 8x10 color film...
- Olivier GrunewaldOlivier GrunewaldOlivier Grunewald is a French photographer and author, with the main focus on nature, landscapes and wildlife.Olivier Grunewald was born in Paris in 1959...
- Andreas GurskyAndreas GurskyAndreas Gursky is a German visual artist known for his enormous architecture and landscape color photographs, often employing a high point of view...
(5×7") - Milton HalberstadtMilton HalberstadtMilton Halberstadt had an illustrious career in fine art and commercial photography that spanned seven decades and left a body of work covering genres from abstract art to commercial photography....
- Charles "Teenie" HarrisCharles Harris (photographer)Charles "Teenie" Harris was an accomplished African-American photographer.Harris was born in 1908 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, the son of hotel owners in the city's Hill District. Early in the 1930s he purchased his first camera and opened a photography studio. He freelanced for the...
- Seydou KeïtaSeydou Keita (photographer)Seydou Keïta was a self-taught portrait photographer from Bamako. He is mostly known for his portraits of people and families he took between 1940 and the early sixties and that are widely acknowledged not only as a record of Malian society, but also as pieces of art.-Biography:Seydou Keïta was...
- Nick KnightNick Knight (photographer)Nick Knight OBE is a British fashion photographer, documentary photographer, and web publisher—as director of SHOWstudio.com.-Life and career:Knight studied at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design....
(8×10) - Herman LeonardHerman LeonardHerman Leonard was an American photographer known for his unique images of jazz icons.-Life:...
- Rodney Lough Jr.Rodney Lough Jr.Rodney Lough Jr. is an American landscape photographer and gallery owner.-Life and career:After receiving a Brigham Young University Outstanding Achievement Scholarship, he earned a Master of Science in Statistics from Brigham Young University in 1988, and began his professional life as a...
- Sally MannSally MannSally Mann is an American photographer, best known for her large black-and-white photographs—at first of her young children, then later of landscapes suggesting decay and death.-Early life and education:...
- George MasaGeorge MasaGeorge Masa , born Masahara Izuka, in Osaka, Japan, was a businessman and professional large format photographer.-Creating a new life in America:Masa arrived in the United States in 1901....
- Joel MeyerowitzJoel MeyerowitzJoel Meyerowitz is a street photographer who began photographing in color in 1962 and was an early advocate of the use of color during a time when there was significant resistance to the idea of color photography as serious art...
(8×10" landscapes) - Richard MisrachRichard MisrachRichard Misrach is an American photographer known for his photographs of human intervention in landscapes. His works are represented in more than fifty major museum collections around the world....
- David MuenchDavid MuenchDavid Muench is an American landscape and nature photographer known for portraying the American western landscape...
- Nicholas NixonNicholas NixonNicholas Nixon is a photographer, known for his work in portraiture and documentary photography, and for championing the use of the 8x10 inch view camera.-Biography:...
(8×10") - Eliot PorterEliot PorterEliot Furness Porter was an American photographer best known for his color photographs of nature.-Early life:...
- Thomas RuffThomas RuffThomas Ruff is an internationally renowned German photographer who lives and works in Düsseldorf.-Life:...
- Paul StrandPaul StrandPaul Strand was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century...
- Stephen ShoreStephen ShoreStephen Shore is an American photographer known for his deadpan images of banal scenes and objects in the United States, and for his pioneering use of color in art photography.- Life and work :...
- Alec SothAlec SothAlec Soth is an American photographer notable for "large-scale American projects" featuring the midwestern United States. His photography has a cinematic feel with elements of folklore that hint at a story behind the image. New York Times art critic Hilarie M...
- Joel SternfeldJoel SternfeldJoel Sternfeld, , is a fine-art color photographer noted for his large-format documentary pictures of the United States and helping establish color photography as a respected artistic medium. He has many works in the permanent collections of the MOMA in New York City and the Getty Center in Los...
- Ezra StollerEzra StollerEzra Stoller was an American architectural photographer.Stoller was born in Chicago. His interest in photography began while he was an architecture student at New York University, when he began making lantern slides and photographs of architectural models, drawings and sculpture...
- Thomas StruthThomas StruthThomas Struth is a German photographer whose wide-ranging work includes depictions of detailed cityscapes, Asian jungles and family portraits. He is one of Germany's most widely exhibited and collected fine art photographers...
- Hiroshi SugimotoHiroshi SugimotoHiroshi Sugimoto , born on February 23, 1948, is a Japanese photographer currently dividing his time between Tokyo, Japan and New York City, USA. His catalog is made up of a number of series, each having a distinct theme and similar attributes.-Life and works:Hiroshi Sugimoto was born and raised in...
- George TiceGeorge TiceGeorge Tice is an American photographer best known for his large-format black-and-white photographs of New Jersey. Tice was born in Newark, New Jersey, and self-trained as a photographer...
- Jeff WallJeff WallJeffrey "Jeff" Wall, OC, RSA is a Canadian artist best known for his large-scale back-lit cibachrome photographs and art-historical writing. Wall has been a key figure in Vancouver's art scene since the early-1970s...
- Peter WatsonPeter Watson (photographer)Peter Watson is a British photographer best known for his large format landscapes of rural Britain.- Background :Born in Wallasey, England in February 1952 Watson’s photographic career started in his teenage years when he photographed and produced his own black & white prints in an improvised...
- WeegeeWeegeeWeegee was the pseudonym of Arthur Fellig , a photographer and photojournalist, known for his stark black and white street photography....
(4×5") - William WegmanWilliam Wegman (photographer)William Wegman is an artist best known for creating series of compositions involving dogs, primarily his own Weimaraners in various costumes and poses.-Life and career:...
- Brett WestonBrett WestonBrett Weston was an American photographer and grew up in LA. He was the second son of photographer Edward Weston. Van Deren Coke, former curator of the San Francisco Museum of Art referred to Brett Weston as the "child genius of American photography." Brett began taking photographs in 1925 and...
- Edward WestonEdward WestonEdward Henry Weston was a 20th century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers…" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course of his forty-year career Weston photographed an increasingly expansive set of...
See also
- View cameraView cameraThe view camera is a type of camera first developed in the era of the Daguerreotype and still in use today, though with many refinements. It comprises a flexible bellows which forms a light-tight seal between two adjustable standards, one of which holds a lens, and the other a viewfinder or a...
- Press cameraPress cameraA press camera is a medium or large format camera suitable for use by press photographers.Press cameras were widely used from the 1900s through the early 1960s and commonly had the following features:* collapsibility into strong, compact boxes...
- Medium format
- ReisekameraReisekameraThe Reisekamera was a popular wooden bellows view camera of the tailboard design, manufactured in large quantities in specialised cabinetmaker's workshops of the eastern regions of Germany from about 1860, but reaching peak popularity in the decades around 1900...
(tailboard view camera) - SinarSinarSinar AG is a Swiss company producing medium format and large format cameras.The name SINAR is explained as an acronym for "Studio, Industrie, Natur, Architektur, Reproduktion", though in , the acronym is explained as "Sach-, Industrie-, Natur-, undArchitekturfotografie sowie Reproduktion"...
- APUGAPUGAPUG is the Analog Photography Users Group,a website and internet forum for an international group of photographers who use analog photography. The website was founded in September 2002, and has attracted approximately 50,000 members, including paying subscribers...