A banquet camera is a type of

large format camera Large format photography refers to any imaging format of or larger. Large format is larger than "medium format", the or size of Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rollei, Kowa, and Pentax cameras (using 120- and 220-roll film), and much larger tha ...

used in the early 20th century for photographing large groups of people in formal occasions.

Specifications

The

film format A film format is a technical definition of a set of standard characteristics regarding image capture on photographic film for still images or film stock for filmmaking. It can also apply to projected film, either slides or movies. The primary ...

of banquet cameras were of narrow

aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...

, with formats of 7x17 in. and 12x20 in. being common. The large, wide negatives were ideal for fitting everyone around a table in a recognizable way. Their use died out as enlarging smaller formats became more popula

wide angle lens In photography and cinematography, a wide-angle lens is a lens covering a large angle of view. Conversely, its focal length is substantially smaller than that of a normal lens for a given film plane. This type of lens allows more of the scene to ...

use increased, and the

snapshot aesthetic A snapshot is a photograph that is "shot" spontaneously and quickly, most often without artistic or journalistic intent and usually made with a relatively cheap and compact camera. Common snapshot subjects include the events of everyday life, ...

became acceptable to record even highly formal events.

Use today

While a few photographers today use banquet cameras for their original purpose, their most common use today is for

landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...

architectural photography Architectural photography is the subgenre of the photography discipline where the primary emphasis is made to capturing photographs of buildings and similar architectural structures that are both aesthetically pleasing and accurate in terms of re ...

References

{{reflist Cameras by type