Future of LF

[brian_c._miller]

"don't want to spend 5 grand in something that will be obsolete without a computer"

 

Huh?? Photography is based on chemicals, not computers! :-)

 

I think that I have less than $500 (total!) invested in 8x10. I got a Calumet camera from Ebay, a couple of holders from Ebay, a lens from Kenmore Camera, and off I go! Nothing I have is new. Nothing. Except film and chemicals. OK, and some cheap trays.

 

Have you heard of a film called TechPan? Its produced by Kodak. TechPan is a film with an amazingly fine grain, and it requires a special developer, Technidol, to give excellent negatives. Did you know that this film is available in 8x10? Its not because of photographers, mind you, its for industrial users. There are industrial and scientific applications which require the film in this format. If a significant set of users requires a film like this, do you think that its going to be replaced by digital?

 

Can anybody calculate the number of pixels required to be the equivalent of an 8x10 TechPan negative?

 

Should you abandon photography altogether? Either photography is in your blood like a parasite or it isn't. Either you can hear the voices or you can't. Life is about choices, and life is to be lived!!

[mark r tomlinson]

Hi

 

I just recently started out in LF after a long struggle trying to get acceptable results (to me personally) with various digital set ups. I usually shoot with a Nikon D100. A couple of observations seem relevant to this discussion:

 

First off, even a scanned 35mm negative on a good scanner beats the Nikon D100 hands down (I mistakenly believed when I bought the D100 and sold my F3 that I would be able to take a short-cut by having the digital file ready rather than wait for the scanner to scan a roll of film). It has taken me a long time to realise this going over old shots of scanned film and new shots on the D100. The D100 is fine for what is designed for: 8x10 inch prints. I have spent endless hours trying various software to get better and bigger pictures with the D100: rezzing up images, noise reduction software etc. etc. It still doesn't outmatch 35mm film except in very specific subjects. Often the results are acceptable to many people, but I always had a nagging doubt about things. Landscapes, for example, are awful with this camera at bigger than A4 size to my eyes. Just not enough resolution.

 

Last week I shot my first landscapes and still life with my new Shen Hao and Ilford FP4 film. I developed the stuff in trays which was the first time I ever did it and with some trepidation. But what a result. For the first time in my life as a photographer I have got images that I am truly happy with. When you look at that first glistening negative in 4x5 and marvel at the detail, is there really any going back?

 

Yes, the digital photography age is upon us and it has its place. Let's hope that film lasts for many more years. It won't if everybody gives up on it so easily.

 

And yes I will carry on using my D100 as well. Oh, and I also still print digitally using carbon pigments on archival paper.

 

Mark

[pvp]

<I>..."digital" officiandos are increasingly becoming like religious fanatics <SNIP!> They want us to believe that it is a question of digital or nothing! We should simply treat them with the contempt that they deserve.</I><P>

I don't (treat them with contempt.) I pity them for their narrow view, in exactly the same way I pity large format photographers who decry digital photography in any form as a heresy to the true way...<P>

I got my first LF camera a couple of years ago, and it was a revelation after 30+ years of 35mm and medium format shooting. But I'll admit that I look forward to getting a digital camera, not to replace anything I now use, but to augment the whole.

[felix_ackermann]

Looking at the Kodak product list i guess that maybe the format 5x7 could vanish in the future; for example TMax 400 and Ektachrome 100 Plus is available in 4x5 and 8x10, but not in 5x7.

[van_camper]

Each camera serves a specific purpase, and large format cameras have tilts/swings, this makes it obsolescence proof. Fuji has their 6x8, but it is still limiting. The film area of the view camera is the only thing that changes, today it is adapted to handle traditional sheet film, readyload/quickload, and digital backs. In the future I bet it will still be the same, because some prefer film for archivability, others digital for speed. If the market goes all digital, the backs will be there.

 

As technology improves further (better film, better digital backs), I cannot see the need for 8x10 which only adds bulk. In the future I doubt there will be any digital backs developed for the 8x10, because even now the file sizes from scanned images are too large. You only need about 2000-2500ppi to scan a 4x5.

[van_camper]

Digital changed our darkroom (no need for enlarger) and what we attach to the back of our 4x5 camera(digital backs vs film only). Nothing else changes! We still need tilts/swings for architecture and superior depth of field control. Digital only changes our media, from RA4 paper to digital paper, and film to digital backs...it doesn't change the camera itself.

[john_kasaian1]

Joseph,

 

I think sheet film will be around for a long time if we keep buying the stuff. While Kodak has cut back and Agfa has bailed out, there are more manufacturers and choices available today than anytime in recent history. If you're going to be paranoid about this, get some glass plate holders or shoot paper negatives. 8x10 is great---enjoy it!

[michael_briggs2]

<p><i>As technology improves further (better film, better digital backs), I cannot see the need for 8x10 which only adds bulk.</i> One reason to use 8x10 is to make contract prints. Some alternative processes such as Azo, platinum, albumen, etc. can only be done by contacting printing. Some practitioners will want to do this with negatives made in-camera.</p>

 

<p>I think LF film will be available for the forseeable future. Some of the current producers may drop out, and it may become a niche product, but enough customers will remain that someone will make film.</p>