Ever Seen one of these? (full frame)

I actively use a 8x10 Agfa and a 4x5 Cambo.

LF photography is a much different art than shooting with small format handheld cameras. It's about crafting a shot, not taking a shot. And while most of us can post pictures we've taken that are unique to LF, it's not until you see a print that it becomes obvious why one would use it.

I cut my teeth on Linhof Technikas 5x4 back in the late 70's shooting industrial photography.. Later on Sinars and Toyos.. Wonderful equipment..

There is something magical about printing a 5x4 B/W negative..

While many people talk about the considerable virtues of B&W photography with film (and particularly LF sheet film), I'm of the opinion that color photography is absolutely peerless on large format. And this is true whether you shoot negative film or slide film, and whether your workflow is all analog or includes scanning and then digital editing / printing. Color accuracy and color noise is one of the greatest drawbacks of Bayer sensors, and there's a ways to go before digital cameras can approach the color accuracy and fine grain-by-grain rendering of color that we have on color films. On large format you get transitions of color taking place over enormous recording surfaces. So the colors on a smooth, contoured surface, or across the sky, or on a detailed pattern, are just incomparably better on LF.

This is not to dismiss B&W photography, which is a tremendous art form unto itself, but to point out that it's NOT the only argument for using view cameras.

And while a 750 pixel scan may look nice, you really can't tell until you put a chrome like this 4x5 on a light box, or when you see it in print with not a hint of noise or grain.

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DrPablo wrote in post #5797717

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This makes me want to run out and buy a 4*5 camera. I have access to a darkroom which has printing and development for 4*5 negatives.

How much are you paying for the development of your color negatives?

About $2.50 for a sheet, and abut $6.00 to develop an 8x10 color chrome.

I shoot color 8x10 quite sparingly, because the film is a lot more expensive than the same film for 4x5. And with my max enlargement size 24x30 (and very rarely at that), this enlargement size is easily within the capability of 4x5.

If you want to get into 4x5, consider getting either a Tachihara or Shen-Hao from badgergraphic.com, then getting yourself a 150 or 210mm Caltar lens from KEH. Caltars are just rebranded Rodenstocks (and some Schneiders), so they're phenomenal lenses and can run you only ~$200 or so. I use Schneider lenses (90, 210, and a 300/500 convertible), except for a 120mm Nikon macro and an awesome 90 year old Wollensak.

I prefer the 4x5 Gowland Pocket view.

http://www.petergowlan​d.com/camera/

I'd love a gowland pocket view, but they're pretty expensive and they're almost never on the used market. Two other ones that look great are the Walker Titan XL and the Arca-Swiss Misura, but then again both are also expensive. But if money weren't an object I'd love a Linhof Master Technika -- rangefinder coupling for handheld use? That'd be pretty sweet.

I saw a Technika in mint condition on e-bay for a mere $3500. They are the Rolls Royce of the press view cameras, someone gave me a basket case Technika III many years ago. It is not even in user condition but you can still see the genius of this camera. The only press view I know of with swings on the film plane. The anatomical grip was sought after to be modified for MF use. I could have sold mine a bunch of times but the pure beauty of the design made me keep it.

8x10 negatives are just about the most beautiful thing you will ever see in your life. The sharpness and subtle variations of grey (shooting b&w of course) in the images is something to die for. There's so much detail in each print it's unfathomable. You're talking 8x10 contact prints here. You know those tiny little 35mm contact prints, when you blow them up to 8x10 you lose a lot more detail than most people realize. Large format cameras capture an incredible amount of information. Whoever posted that the 20d is comparable to large format is sadly mistaken, a 20d isn't even comparable to medium format. Digital cameras may get there some day, but until then, these cameras rule. I actually have an 8x10 negative in my room from a view camera workshop I attended at my university last semester. It was an amazing experience I must say, learning to use the same tool that Ansel Adams once used. The fact that images take so long to set up and capture makes you really think about composition a lot more. The fact that the image is upside down and you have a viewfinder the same size as the picture you're going to eventually take helps you too I believe.

Anyways, that's Keith Cunham in the picture, he actually hand makes all of these cameras, they come in metal and wood. He was the instructor for the workshop. Great experience, if I had another opportunity like this, I'd jump on it in a heart beat.

(assuming that's the Back Bay of Boston, the First Church of Christ, Scientist and the Prudential building, not far from the Massachusetts Turnpike and Symphony Hall)

Too bad the photo processing industry is on the way out. So few people want the service that it's barely viable. 8x10 is going the way of the daguerreotype.

DC Fan wrote in post #5799896
(assuming that's the Back Bay of Boston, the First Church of Christ, Scientist and the Prudential building, not far from the Massachusetts Turnpike and Symphony Hall)

Indeed. I lived in Boston from 2004-2007.

Too bad the photo processing industry is on the way out. So few people want the service that it's barely viable. 8x10 is going the way of the daguerreotype.

I've had no problem finding multiple different labs wherever I've lived to process 8x10 film. In Boston I could get same day service for 8x10 E6 and C-41 (I did the B&W on my own). I've lived in North Carolina for a year now and there are three labs nearby that process 8x10. Smaller labs may close, but there will always be large operations that take mail order. There is enough demand that film is still made in 11x14, 12x20, 7x17, 8x20, up to 20x24 ultralarge format. The 8x10 industry dwarfs that.

Redman,,,amen!! I never had the pleasure of using 10x8 but used 5x4 alot from the late 70's until the early 90's..

People here talk about "pop" but I have seen nothing as beautiful as a Cibachrome print made from a 100ISO Ektachrome tranny shot on 5x4...That is what I call POP!! It will take digital a long time to come anywhere close..