Larger Format

Several years ago I found a "deal" on Ebay on an 8x10 view camera.  I thought this would be great... and a natural progression.  After all, several of my existing large format lenses had enough coverage to be used with the larger 8x10 format.  I had been shooting with a 4x5 camera for over a decade.  How much more difficult could 8x10 be...??  After all it was only twice the size.  Boy was I mistaken....  That move up to a larger format was exponentially more difficult and more expensive.  I soon discovered that my lenses that covered the larger 8x10 format, barely covered it.  In order to have any room for camera movement I needed to invest in more lenses.  Then there were the 8x10 film holders.  These only go for around 50 bucks each, used.  I now have 40 of them... but along the way I picked up "bargains" on a few that later turned out to have significant light leaks.  Initially I expected to contact print these large negatives.  Over four years later I have yet to shoot anything worthy of an exhibition quality print... and I soon discovered that I am not satisfied with small 8x10 prints.  They are OK for some alternative processes, but I would really like to be able to enlarge some of these negatives... once I eventually get a good one.  So, I found another deal on a used 8x10 enlarger...  The cost of the enlarger wasn't all that bad... less than $2000.  But, by the time I paid to have it dismantled, packaged and shipped to me, it was quite a bit more expensive.  Two years later it still sits in my shop, in crates, waiting to be brought home to my darkroom and assembled.  But... before I can do that I need to reorganize my work space and overflow into the adjacent room.  I also need to cut a hole into the ceiling, as the column of the new enlarger is slightly taller than the existing space.... and I need to black out a couple of windows... and, while I'm at it, I need to install that ventilation system that I've been working on...  It never ends...

I've also quickly learned that shooting 8x10 is much more of a challenge than I expected.  To say the equipment is large and heavy is an understatement.  Whenever I find something that I want to photograph it takes me three trips out to the shooting location from my vehicle just to pack out all the gear.  One large Pelican case contains my camera.  Then there is that heavy tripod....   Then there are more cases containing lenses, other accessories [meters, filters, loupe, cable release, etc.] and finally one or more cases of those expensive film holders...

And... I learned the hard way that composition and camera set up is not only time consuming, but much more critical than smaller formats.  Although the camera movements offer some compensation, the lenses used with this format have very little depth of field.  A normal lens for an 8x10 camera has a focal length of 300mm.  This lens has the same depth of field as any other 300mm lens.  Think of a 300mm telephoto lens for 35mm format.  This lens with the small format camera is a pretty long lens... suitable for sports or wildlife photography.  With this format it has very little depth of field, unless it is stopped right down.  When the same focal length is used on an 8x10 camera, surprise of surprises... the depth of field is the same.... almost nothing....!!  But, now it is not a long telephoto lens... it is simply a "normal lens" roughly equivalent to a 50mm lens with 35mm format.  It becomes necessary to use the fastest available film to be able to adequately stop down the lens and still maintain some sort of reasonable shutter speed.  Pray to the photo gods that there is no breeze, especially if you plan on using any filters!!

So, mostly I have wasted a lot of film, money and time to generate a handful of negatives that I will never print.  But, over the last couple of years I have finally garnered enough experience with this camera that my negatives are beginning to improve.  This is encouraging me to not only shoot more, but to get after my darkroom renovations and set up that big enlarger....

 

Last night I finished washing the last of the big negatives that I processed over the weekend.  By tonight they have dried and are ready for scanning.  I actually have a couple here that I really like.  Scans are attached for review and critique.  I'm anxious to get into the darkroom and try printing these.