Colour ULF film

[SimonSutcliffe]

Hi I was wondering if I should go into ULF film if I am trying to make the biggest print possible (80 inches range). I have a small budget of roughly 2-3 thousand dollars at total total maximum. and then a 800$ film budget. Would ULF be worth going into if I was only concerned about image quality in colour? Thanks Simon(I would consider making my camera)

[DREW WILEY]

Once in a great while 11X14 color film becomes available, but the largest
standard size is 8x10. Getting anything custom cut bigger would involve a
minimum order of many thousands of dollars, if anyone would do it at all.
Your budget isn't very realistic for getting even into 8x10 color. But you
could find a reasonable bargain on some kind of used 8x10 and lens, and
perhaps find some outdated 8x10 chrome film at a discount, just to practice and study on a lightbox before you try something more ambitious.

[Oren Grad]

What Drew said. 11x14 Portra 160 or E100G is now $31.50 per sheet, special order only, minimum order something north of $15,000. You can wait to participate in one of Keith Canham's special-order co-ops, but you'll still face the very stiff per-sheet cost. If you need commercial processing, you'll be up around $50 total cost per exposure.

Also, if you're looking to make big enlargements, depending on the nature of your subjects, the DOF and diffraction issues that make 4x5 vs 8x10 often a close call may become even more problematic.

[davekarp]

Or maybe you could go 8x10 and try doing color with black and white film: http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=48583

[wildbill]

massimo vitali shoots ulf color, 11x14 lately. Try 8x10 first, then when your wallet is empty, go bigger

[PHOTOTONE]

A question here, how do you intend to enlarge your ULF negative into an 80" wide print? Do you have an ULF enlarger. Have you explored just "WHO" might be able to do this. There probably aren't any labs anymore that can do this. Your alternative is a drum-scan and digital print.

In practical terms, an 8x10 Portra negative will be so grain free and so sharp (depending on the quality of your lens) at the size you want to go, that I doubt you would want anything larger, and finding a lab that can handle 8x10, while rare, is not impossible, if you search on a worldwide basis.

the "primary" use for ULF is to make killer contact prints, the same size as the negative.

[keithwms]

I have some fresh 11x14 provia, that's it. Everything else is 8x10 or other such diminutive formats Other than that, if you're shooting ULF then why not make colour sep negs. Probably lower cost than high-end colour materials and the result will probably be quite interesting.

You can still get long rolls of portra, 70mm or such....

[SimonSutcliffe]

I decided I was going to go 8x10 Thanks!

[keithwms]

Ah where's your artistic conviction??!!!

[Bernard_61]

I'm one of Vitali's main collaborators, and I make the drum scans for him.
I can confirm a huge gap of "spatiality" between 8x10" and 11x14", it's not a banal problem of resolution. Massimo thinks the same.

You can see a lot of his works in 11x14" on my album:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/castorscan/6748095233/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/castorscan/