Is the L/F for the more Mature

[jp80874]

Oh, John... If I was only as nimble as you, "horsing" your gear around O'Neal Lake.

Cheers,

Thanks Tom, but if I remember you went off with your wife each night and didn't see that I went to bed right after dinner and could not stay up by the fire with the youngsters. It was the only way I could get up the next morning.

John

[Graham.b]

John, to go to 8x10 well, i do not have the room to put that sort of enlarger any where to print, i have 3 at the mo. But to get the 4x5 i would have room for. I would lose the 35, keep the 645 then put the 4x5 where the 35 was. My D/R is 13x7ft. Most of the post i have read all say the same, just go to the top and save money.

Graham

[jp80874]

John, to go to 8x10 well, i do not have the room to put that sort of enlarger any where to print, i have 3 at the mo. But to get the 4x5 i would have room for. I would lose the 35, keep the 645 then put the 4x5 where the 35 was. My D/R is 13x7ft. Most of the post i have read all say the same, just go to the top and save money.

Graham

Graham,

Take a look “8x10 black and white photography is like dark chocolate ala mode.”
http://creativeimagemaker.co.uk/mod/...view.php?id=13
My darkroom is only 11’x13’. Don’t say no until you have really looked.

John Powers

[JBrunner]

There is nothing like a 8x10 or larger contact print. Nothing.

[Kirk Keyes]

There's nothing like enlarging an 8x10 to 20x24 or 30x40 or larger.

I just wish I had an 8x10 enlarger so I could make enlargments. Till then, I'm sticking with 4x5.

[AZLF]

I don't think age "had" anything to do with it. Or maturity in general for anyone of my age group. I'm 57 and the first camera I used in high school photo class was a Speed Graphic at age 14. I was using a Calumet 4x5" mono rail at 18 in Viet Nam for specific types of shots in the building (quanset hut) we used as a studio on Cu Chi base camp. I think that if you started in photography in the 50's and 60's you were very likely to be using a view camera because they were much more prevalent at the time. It wasn't a matter of maturity it was just availability and the ability of the view camera to do so many different types of work. And the relatively low cost of the camera at the time. In 1970 I could buy a Calumet 4x5" view camera camera body new for $120.00 mail order. My Nikormat cost $400.00 stateside and $200.00 in any PX in Viet Nam.


Now is a different story. There are fewer of them being used and available for use. Film costs a lot more and all the attendant costs have risen as well. And fewer people are being taught (as I was) just what a camera really is, i.e a light tight box with a lens and shutter to control the amount and focus of light falling on a light sensitive surface. I see the view camera as the Mark 1 Mod zero basic camera. All variations flow from this basic concept. It takes no special maturity to use one. But it does take and understanding of the photographic process which directs how one is to use the view camera.

These days with costs up and supply down it is little wonder that more older people use them than the young. We generally have more disposable income to spend on such things.But as many posts in this thread have pointed out there are quite a few younger people using view cameras. But I'll bet they do so because they have come to understand what the view camera represents and won't settle for less. That I suppose is a maturity of their photo knowledge but I don't know that it extends into any other areas of their lives. I know it certainly didn't in mine. : )

[2F/2F]

I don't think age "had" anything to do with it. Or maturity in general for anyone of my age group. I'm 57 and the first camera I used in high school photo class was a Speed Graphic at age 14. I was using a Calumet 4x5" mono rail at 18 in Viet Nam for specific types of shots in the building (quanset hut) we used as a studio on Cu Chi base camp. I think that if you started in photography in the 50's and 60's you were very likely to be using a view camera because they were much more prevalent at the time. It wasn't a matter of maturity it was just availability and the ability of the view camera to do so many different types of work. And the relatively low cost of the camera at the time. In 1970 I could buy a Calumet 4x5" view camera camera body new for $120.00 mail order. My Nikormat cost $400.00 stateside and $200.00 in any PX in Viet Nam.


Now is a different story. There are fewer of them being used and available for use. Film costs a lot more and all the attendant costs have risen as well. And fewer people are being taught (as I was) just what a camera really is, i.e a light tight box with a lens and shutter to control the amount and focus of light falling on a light sensitive surface. I see the view camera as the Mark 1 Mod zero basic camera. All variations flow from this basic concept. It takes no special maturity to use one. But it does take and understanding of the photographic process which directs how one is to use the view camera.

These days with costs up and supply down it is little wonder that more older people use them than the young. We generally have more disposable income to spend on such things.But as many posts in this thread have pointed out there are quite a few younger people using view cameras. But I'll bet they do so because they have come to understand what the view camera represents and won't settle for less. That I suppose is a maturity of their photo knowledge but I don't know that it extends into any other areas of their lives. I know it certainly didn't in mine. : )

I agree.

[Wade D]

I don't think maturity has anything to do with it. I used 35mm until I was 19. I then bought an old Crown View 4x5 which I still use. For me it was wanting to learn more about the craft and how to take control of the outcome to get the images I see in my mind translated into prints for others to see.

[flashgumby]

Taking it a step further - if it's true that LF is for the more mature, the implication is that anyone who chooses anything else is somehow less mature. That does NOT sit well with me, as I'm sure there are plenty of mature photographers around who shoot other formats for various reasons that have nothing to do with maturity.

Since I only shoot 35mm, I mustn't even be weaned yet!!! I haven't even grown up enough to use 645, let alone a 'mature' 4x5!!!

Regards,
Gordon.

[Akki14]

I'm 27 and I've been using 4x5 for a year now. Needed it for cyanotypes.