Large format photography refers to any imaging format of or larger. Large format is larger than "

medium format Medium format has traditionally referred to a film format in photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger than the used in 35&n ...

", the or size of

Hasselblad Victor Hasselblad AB is a Sweden, Swedish manufacturer of medium format (film), medium format cameras, photographic equipment and image scanners based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The company originally became known for its classic analog medium-for ...

, Mamiya, Rollei, Kowa, and

Pentax was a Japanese camera and optical equipment manufacturer. Currently, it exists as the Pentax Life Care Business Division of Hoya's medical endoscope business, as well as the digital camera brand of Ricoh Imaging, a subsidiary of Ricoh. Penta ...

cameras (using 120- and 220-roll film), and much larger than the frame of 35 mm format. The main advantage of a large format, film or digital, is a higher resolution at the same pixel pitch, or the same resolution with larger pixels or grains which allows each pixel to capture more light enabling exceptional low-light capture. A 4×5 inch image (12.903 mm²) has about 15 times the area, and thus 15 times the total resolution, of a 35 mm frame (864 mm²). Large format cameras were some of the earliest photographic devices, and before enlargers were common, it was normal to just make 1:1

contact print A contact print is a photographic image produced from Photographic film, film; sometimes from a film negative (photography), negative, and sometimes from a film positive or paper negative. In a darkroom an exposed and developed piece of film or ...

s from a 4×5, 5×7, or 8×10-inch negative.

Formats

The most common large format is , which was the size used by cameras like the Graflex Speed Graphic and Crown Graphic, among others. Less common formats include quarter-plate (), , and ; the size of many old 1920s

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company, referred to simply as Kodak (), is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in film photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorporated i ...

cameras (various versions of Kodak 1, 2, and 3 and Master View cameras, to much later Sinar monorail studio cameras) are , , , various panoramic or "banquet" formats (such as and inches ( and cm), and metric formats, including , , and and assorted old and current aerial image formats of , (K17, K18, K19, K22 etc.), using roll film of 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, or 10 inches width or,

view camera A view camera is a large format, large-format camera in which the large format lens, lens forms an erect image, inverted image on a ground glass, ground-glass screen directly at the film plane. The image is viewed, composed, and focused, then the ...

s (including

pinhole camera A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens but with a tiny aperture (the so-called ''Pinhole (optics), pinhole'')—effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. Light from a scene passes through the aperture and projects a ...

s), reproduction/process cameras, and x-ray film. Above inches, the formats are often referred to as Ultra Large Format (ULF) and may be , , or inches or as large as film, plates, or cameras are available. Many large formats (e.g., , , and inches) are horizontal cameras designed to make big negatives for contact printing onto press-printing plates. The

Polaroid 20×24 camera The Polaroid 20×24 camera is a very large instant camera made by Polaroid Corporation, with film plates that measure a nominal , giving the camera its name, although at least one camera takes pictures that are . Design The Polaroid 20×24 is one ...

is one of the largest format

instant camera An instant camera is a camera which uses instant film, self-developing film to create a chemically Photographic processing, developed print shortly after taking the picture. Polaroid Corporation pioneered (and Patent, patented) consumer-friend ...

s in common usage and can be hired from Polaroid agents in various countries. Many well-known photographers have used the , wheeled-chassis Polaroid.

Control

Most, but not all, large format cameras are

s, with fronts and backs called "standards" that allow the photographer to better control rendering of perspective and increase apparent

depth of field The depth of field (DOF) is the distance between the nearest and the farthest objects that are in acceptably sharp focus (optics), focus in an image captured with a camera. See also the closely related depth of focus. Factors affecting depth ...

. Architectural and close-up photographers in particular benefit greatly from this ability. These allow the front and back of the camera to be ''shifted'' up/down and left/right (useful for architectural images where the scene is higher than the camera, and produces images where the scene is lower than the camera), and ''tilted'' out of parallel with each other left/right, up/down, or both; based on the

Scheimpflug principle The Scheimpflug principle is a description of the geometric relationship between the orientation of the plane of Focus (optics), focus, the lens plane, and the image plane of an optical system (such as a camera) when the lens plane is not para ...

. The shift and tilt movements make it possible to solve otherwise impossible depth-of-field problems, and to change perspective rendering, and create special effects that would be impossible with a conventional fixed-plane fixed-lens camera.

Ansel Adams Ansel Easton Adams (February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984) was an American landscape photographer and environmentalist known for his Monochrome photography, black-and-white images of the American West. He helped found Group f/64, an association ...

' photographs, and those of the other Group f/64 photographers, demonstrate how the use of front (lens plane) and back ( film plane) adjustments can secure great apparent depth of field when using the movements available on large format view cameras.

Operation

A number of actions need to be taken to use a typical large format camera, resulting in a slower, often more contemplative, photographic style. For example, film loading using sheet film holders requires a dark space to load and unload the film, typically a

changing bag A changing bag is a photographic bag specifically designed to be light-proof and therefore to protect the light sensitive (unexposed) film before intended use. A changing bag is made of light proof material, and usually is composed of synthetic ...

darkroom A darkroom is used to process photographic film, make Photographic printing, prints and carry out other associated tasks. It is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light-sensitive photographic materials, including ...

, although prepackaged film magazines and large format roll films have also been used in the past. A

tripod A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads ...

is typically used for view camera work, but some models are designed for hand-held use. These "technical cameras" have separate viewfinders and

rangefinder A rangefinder (also rangefinding telemeter, depending on the context) is a device used to Length measurement, measure distances to remote objects. Originally optical devices used in surveying, they soon found applications in other fields, suc ...

s for faster handling. In general large format camera use, the scene is composed on the camera's

ground glass Ground glass is glass whose surface has been ground to produce a flat but rough ( matte) finish, in which the glass is in small sharp fragments. Ground glass surfaces have many applications, ranging from ornamentation on windows and table glass ...

, and then a film holder is fitted to the camera back prior to exposure. A separate Polaroid back using

instant film Instant film is a type of photographic film that was introduced by Polaroid Corporation to produce a visible image within minutes or seconds of the photograph's exposure. The film contains the chemicals needed for developing and fixing the photo ...

is used by some photographers, allowing previewing of the composition, correctness of exposure and depth of field before committing the image to film to be developed later. Failure to "Polaroid" an exposure risks discovery later, at the time of film development, that there was an error in camera setup.

Uses

The 4×5 inch sheet film format was very convenient for press photography since it allowed for direct

ing on the printing plate, hence it was widely used in

press camera A press camera is a medium or large format view camera that was predominantly used by press photographers in the early to mid-20th century. It was largely replaced for press photography by 35mm film cameras in the 1960s, and subsequently, by ...

s. This was done well into the 1940s and 1950s, even with the advent of more convenient and compact

or 35 mm roll-film cameras which started to appear in the 1930s. The 35 mm and medium format SLR which appeared in the mid-1950s were soon adopted by press photographers. Large format photography is not limited to film; large digital camera backs are available to fit large format cameras. These are either medium-format digital backs adapted to fit large format cameras (sometimes resulting in cropped images), step and repeat Multishot systems, or scanning backs (which scan the image area in the manner of a flat-bed scanner). Scanning backs can take seconds or even several minutes to capture an image. When using a Sinar Macroscan unit and 54H data files, over 1

gigabyte The gigabyte () is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The SI prefix, prefix ''giga-, giga'' means 109 in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one gigabyte is one billion bytes. The unit symbol for the gigabyte i ...

of data is produced. Large format, both film-based and digital, is still used for many applications, such as landscape photography, advertising photos, fine-art photography, scientific applications and generally for images that will be enlarged to a high magnification while requiring a high level of detail. High quality fine art prints can be made at sizes in the range of 40x50″ from a 4×5″ original, and well beyond that for larger negatives. In the printing industry, very large fixed cameras were also used to make large films for the preparation of

lithographic Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German ...

plates before computer to film and

computer to plate Computer-to-plate (CTP) is an imaging technology used in modern printing processes. In this technology, an image created in a desktop publishing (DTP) application is output directly to a printing plate. This compares with the older technology, ...

techniques were introduced. These are generally referred to as a "

process camera A process camera is a specialised form of camera used for the reproduction of graphic material. Before the advent of color scanners, color process work was undertaken by the process camera, by a skilled operator. This was achieved by using various ...

" and consist of vertically mounted models for smaller work and horizontal units mounted on rails for very large works such as maps and plans.

National Park Service documentation programs

Large format film is also used to create a record of historic places and things for the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

documentation programs. The

Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

(HABS), the

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). It administers three programs established to document historic places in the United States: Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American E ...

(HAER), and the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) require large format film-based photography. 4×5″, 5×7″, and 8×10″ large format film formats are the only acceptable formats for inclusion in these collections at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. 4x5 and 5x7 are generally used in the field (5×7″ is preferred for very significant buildings) and 8×10″ is generally used for photo-duplication of historic photographs, documents and blueprints. Through HABS/HAER/HALS, buildings and sites of historic significance are recorded with large format cameras and black and white film and using techniques that document the key features of the historic resource with special care not to distort the angles and views. This rectified photography can be accomplished with large format cameras by keeping the film, lens and subject perfectly parallel. Smaller format cameras need to be tilted to view high or low subjects, but the same subjects can be captured by shifting the lens element of a large format camera up or down to keep the film, lens, and subject planes parallel. HABS, HAER, and HALS also requires the increased resolution of large format film. A sheet of 5×7″ film has almost twice the resolution of 4×5″ film, and 4×5″ is almost 16 times larger than a 35 mm film image (24×36 mm). This added negative size not only allows for more detail, but the large format

polyester Polyester is a category of polymers that contain one or two ester linkages in every repeat unit of their main chain. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to a type called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Polyesters include some natura ...

film is also far more durable than

acetate An acetate is a salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. alkaline, earthy, metallic, nonmetallic, or radical base). "Acetate" also describes the conjugate base or ion (specifically, the negatively charged ion called ...

35 mm stock. HABS, HAER, and HALS require that all submissions to the Library of Congress include the original film (archivally washed) and it must also include contact prints on fiber-based paper; these contacts are the same size as the film being submitted, 4×5″, 5×7″, or 8×10″, and the large size allows people to readily see the prints, while 35 mm contacts would be too small and would require magnification.

References

External links

''HABS/HAER/HALS Standards & Guidelines''
National Park Service website {{Authority control Film formats