What is medium/large format?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Slvrbck
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Slvrbck

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I have seen it mentioned a few times on the forum, and a fella at work talks about how he used to do it at uni....

I just have no idea what on earth it is all about?

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I am a child of the digital age.
 
35mm = a negative 35mm long, medium format = 45x60mm or 60x60mm, large format = anything larger that comes in sheets instead of rolls. :)
 
Ok, so it's film camera but with bigger film?
Think I understand what it is now, but what's the point?
 
but what's the point?
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It's about quality young man, quality! :lol:

There will always be times where size very much matters. With cameras it's no different to comparing watching a film on a little telly to going to the Odeon at Leicester Square. Or listening to music on a kitchen radio to a good system with biiiiiiig speakers. :D
 
dazzajl said:
It's about quality young man, quality! :lol:
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It's more than that. Medium and large format cameras by their very nature required a more consdiered approach to photography. Many advocates love them not for the undoubted extra quality their negs/transparancies bring, but also the way you work with them.
 
dazzajl said:
It's about quality young man, quality!
Click to expand...

:lol: Ok, and forgive me for my continued stupidity, is shooting in medium/large format benificial in the same way that shooting full frame digital or shooting on a 21.9 mp digital sensor.

NorthernNikon said:
Medium and large format cameras by their very nature required a more consdiered approach to photography.
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:thinking:
 
That's pretty much it m8, the larger negative (over the 35mm size) can capture more detail and allows for greater enlargement because the subject is larger on the film.
 
Slvrbck said:
:lol: Ok, and forgive me for my continued stupidity, is shooting in medium/large format benificial in the same way that shooting full frame digital or shooting on a 21.9 mp digital sensor.
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Yes

Most people who use large format cameras use black and white film, and no amount of pixels at the moment can match the sheer quaility, tonal range and beauty that can be done on these machines.

Medium format again brings a quality to film that can't be matched by digital yet, stick a well exposed transparency on a light box and I think you will see. Mind you lots of commercial togs use digi backs on MF machines these days.

Using these cameras is all about slowing the process down, you only have 12 shots on a 6x6 machine and it could take you a few mintues to an hour to set up and take 1 image on a LF camera.

Sometimes it is not about how many pixels you have or that you can take a zillion shots in an afternoon on your CF card.
 
Ok, I think I am on the path to understanding now.
Not sure I am ready to give it a go but I think I will at some point in the future.
 
You'll find a lot of landscape photographers ( Charlie Waite etc,) still us large format for a lot of their work. It does bring a different discipline to you approach. It's usually a single image you are looking for, and you spend time getting it right.

The reason is the equipment is not light. ( I know) and you only have a limited number of exposures. It's down to the amount of film you can carry.
 
Charlie Waite is something of a lightweight and shoots pretty much on 6*6. Although he's made some great images on a fuji 6*17 too.

Large format is an amazing way to work and I've been wanting to get back into shooting this way for ages now. It's a fabulous challenge when you're shooting as it manages to be liberating and restricting at the same time and that's before you even get that glorious moment of seeing the tranny/neg on the lightbox for the first time.
 
Knikki said:
Yes

Most people who use large format cameras use black and white film, and no amount of pixels at the moment can match the sheer quaility, tonal range and beauty that can be done on these machines.

Medium format again brings a quality to film that can't be matched by digital yet, stick a well exposed transparency on a light box and I think you will see. Mind you lots of commercial togs use digi backs on MF machines these days.

Using these cameras is all about slowing the process down, you only have 12 shots on a 6x6 machine and it could take you a few mintues to an hour to set up and take 1 image on a LF camera.

Sometimes it is not about how many pixels you have or that you can take a zillion shots in an afternoon on your CF card.
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Blimey, that quick, It always took me a lot longer than that to set up a shot when I used to use LF. Man I really miss using LF, maybe one day I will shot LF again.
 
I love B&W shot on the Mamiya, I've got a 16.7mp digital in the 1DsMk11 and I'd still take the Mamiya to shoot B&W. And it's also got a 1/500 sec sync speed :)

They can be a bit tricky to handle after digital but it's a completely different way of working. Pop over to the film forum and read what people think of them. We don't bite but we smell a bit of chemicals :)
 
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