robostby Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I am thinking of purchasing a 5X7 field camera. Over theyears I have used 5mm, medium format and now digital, but I'm interested in going 5X7 for Black & White, scanning the negs and use PP in photoshop. 2 Questions; is there much of a learning curve to self teaching myself to use a 5X7 camera?, and is anyone having great success scanning the negs to digital and enlarging? Any and all information is most welcome! Thanks, Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucecahn Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Check my site for an article on 5x7 cameras. I have owned many brands and review them there. It is http://stores.ebay.com/brucesfieldcamerastore. The reviews are on the bottom left of any page. Yes you can teach yourself. Just ask questions that come up, on this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodorod Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Good choice! It is a nice format. I have to say that you will find not many different types of film though. I live in Mexico, and they only sell Tmax, TriX and Forte, with the bad news that there will be no more Forte. So, if you like the romantic feeling of having to fight to get to the top of the mountain to have the best view possible, 5x7" is the choice for you. There is no color film available, apart from special order at BH, and around $180 per 50 sheet. Freestyle and BH carry some fantastic different kinds of film, some of them in 5x7". Nice if you live in the US, otherwise is difficult task to get t shoot 5x7. Holders are also to be found at ebay. (Used). I use a CanoScan 9940f to scan 5x7, encooutering many problems. First, this flatbed was thought to scann up to 4x5" film, but I simply put the 5x7" film on the glass and select the whole image to scann. The quality is good for the price of a flatbed, but there are this horrible newton rings, depending on the type of film I scan. With polaroid 55 (4x5) I scan it without the holder, because it ain?t fitting in it, and as the emulsion side is matte, there is higher chances of not getting newton rings. As for regular film, like Tmax or TriX, both sides of the neg ar glossy enough to get newton rings. A negative holder has to be made in order to scann 5x7" with this flatbed. I don't know if there is any flatbed with a 5x7" holder, and I doubt there is. I have printed up to 4 feet by 3 feet, on Lightjet system, with great results. As for learning, I think the best way is to get the camera you like, start playing around with it, and shoot as much as possible. I hope I could transmit something to you, with this not so great English I speak... Have fun, and enjoy. Rod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankz Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 While there's not a thing wrong with the format, there's definitely a lack of available films as Rodrigo said. A 5 X 7 is the photographic equivalent of a 16 gage shotgun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_briggs2 Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I think this "there are few films in 5x7" is misleading unless better stated. Yes, film availability in color in the USA is very poor. But the original poster said that he wants to work in B&W. In B&W there are a bunch of choices. B&H has only one color film in stock, Portra 160NC. But they have seven B&W films from from four manufacturers in stock, plus three more films listed as accepting orders or special order (Delta 100). Ilford FP4, HP5, Kodak Tri-X, T-Max 100, Efke and Berger. If you want to work in B&W, this seems plenty of choices to me. I didn't check Freestyle, they may have additional choices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robostby Posted March 4, 2008 Author Share Posted March 4, 2008 I guess I can teach myself. What about scans? What machines are good? Imacon for 5X7? Do I need to send out for drum scans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_shriver Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I'd think the major advantage of 5x7 over 4x5 is getting a nicer sized contact print. If you're scanning, 4x5 might be a lot more practical. Short of drum scanning, there's not going to be a major resolution difference between the two. 4x5 absolutely gives you the best film selection. Most the "daylight" home processing tanks top out at 4x5 as well (Nikor, Combi-Plan, Jobo 2509, FR, Yankee). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_briggs2 Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 Along with John: you haven't said why you are thinking of 5x7 instead of 4x5. Advantages that I can see are if you wanted to make contact prints, especially if using an alternative process, or if you prefer the aspect ratio. But if you are scanning, 4x5 has plenty of resolution for large prints. Perhaps a reason to use 5x7 is that you could make somewhat larger prints, still using a desktop scanner rather than having to pay for professional scans on an Imacon or a drum scanner. But how big do you want to go? Different people have different opinions on what the desktop scanners can do, but a common opinion is that they work well up to 4x. Some say larger. There are a bunch of threads on this topic on photo.net -- check out the archives of this forum and the Digital Darkroom forum. The Epson V750 (Pro) can scan large transparencies. For dry scanning, it only has film holders for up to 4x5. For 5x7, you could make your own holder somehow, or wet scan using the fluid mount tray. The guide for placing films on the fluid mount tray outlines an area of 5.5 x 9 inches. I'm not sure about the discrepancy from the 8x10 spec, but 5x7 seems quite doable. To learn, I suggest getting a book. I suggest "A Users Guide to the View Camera" by Jim Stone. Here's a thread with more recommendations: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00OcRN. There are also articles at http://www.largeformatphotography.info/. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck_pere Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 One major cost problem for 5x7 is the price of used holders. They are much more expensive than 4x5. A couple new brands from China are coming out but they are not cheap either. So don't forget to factor that into your cost comparison. 5x7 is a little bigger and heavier than 4x5 but IMHO no harder to use. If fact the bigger ground glass may make things easier to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wieslaw1 Posted March 6, 2008 Share Posted March 6, 2008 I am going into 5x7. I have everything needed: lenses (from 4x5), holders (bought for 3$ a piece at ebay), hangers for developing, a huge Durst enlarger, but I don't have a camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mahonri_moriancumer Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 The Shen Hao and some others are nice cameras. Deardorff 5x7 cameras are pretty much the standard and are in use by many even though no longer made. The price is not too high and they are on eBay a lot. 5x7 is a good format for a lot of reasons as noted above. The Deardorffs also have a 4x5 back you can get so you get the best of both worlds. Pretty nice set up for the long haul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Taylor Posted March 15, 2008 Share Posted March 15, 2008 Nice format, but isn't that a film stock going the way of the dodo even faster than the others? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erlend sæteren Posted April 6, 2008 Share Posted April 6, 2008 I use a Agfascan xy-15 on bw negatives. It works great. I just started 5x7 myself and will primarely use fujifilmtransparencies. If you worries about getting the some film, a 4x5 reduction back or cutting 8x10 in the darkroom are ways to go. The Agfascan xy-15 and Fuji Lanovia are very good true 5000dpi xy- scanners, did probably cost 20-40000 dollar, but should be much cheaper used. The glass might be very expencive to replace. It is probably scratched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter_jakubowski Posted May 31, 2008 Share Posted May 31, 2008 I bought a used Imacon Precision 2 scanner a couple years ago. With the proper (120mm x 172mm) film holder it will scan the exposed area of a 5x7 sheet of film I believe @ 1500dpi. The newer Imacons for some reason will only do 4x5. If you are willing to shell out a couple grand and are patient you can find a used Precision 2 on E-bay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_woo Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 <p>Cameras with convertible backs such as the Canham 4x5 / 5x7 traditional would give you the option of shooting both formats.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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