6x9 over 5x4???

dazzajl

dazzajl

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Ok my good and learned friends.

I have just watched this little baby get no attention whatsoever at a silly low price and it's really got me thinking now.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=150227452199&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=005

I've always looked at the 6x9 camera and thought, no. I want a full 5x4 kit....... but really, why?

Chances are rare that I'd print over 20x30 and lots will get scanned anyway. Where a decent scanner will make a great file from a 6x9. The film costs would be much smaller and there's probably more in the way of range available in 120. I'd get more movement as I'd need much less of the image circle. There are some very wide lenses for 5x4 that would still give the angles I want on a "crop" body and the whole kit would be that little bit lighter.

So.... why do I still want the 5x4 version? Apart from the pure joy of LF trany on the lightbox (and this is a huge draw) are there really any advantages?
 
Two different kettles of fish my friend.

It's an argument of quality of negatives vs. portability.

You ask yourself why choose 6x9 over 135? 35mm is lighter, more compact, more versatile, and yet the negative quality is just pittence in comparison. The difference is merely the same in M.F vs. L.F.

Obviously this is without the resounding cost factor. If that comes into play, then a whole new argument is brought forth. But people who invest in L.F. usually have the disposable income to do so, anyway.
 
Cheers Grant. I know the 5x4 is a far superior format for overall IQ. What I've started to question is when will I actually see that extra IQ, apart from on my lightbox.

I've had something in just about every film format there is, so I know what I'd be getting either way. It's me questioning how much of my desire for a 5x4 technikardan over a 6x9 version is snobbery and how much is need for IQ. :shrug::shrug::shrug:
 
To be honest anything outside of Landscape work isn't worthy of a L.F. camera, in my opinion - unless you're a hobbyist with a large budget.

To be fair though, the image quality from 645 compared to 67 is pretty shockingly different, let alone 35mm to L.F.

In terms of prints at about 20x30 - you'll definitely notice an increased level of detail, it's a bigger negative, obviously. Scanning wise, you can't scan Large Format negs, not as far as I know, cheaply, anyway.

Me, personally, I'd stick to 6x7, but I'm a cheap assed photography student with no real interest in busting my overdraft for a little more detail!
 
You can handhold 5x4, all the press cameras of yesteryear were 5x4 speed graphics, but they will be oooold, you cannot however handhold a tech monorail.....obviously.:LOL:
There are some decent flatbeds manufactured to scan 5x4.
L/F is big stuff, takes time setting up, and the advantages in IQ over smaller film sizes are the same, whether you shoot landscape, portrait, studio whatever.
A lot of togs like to shoot L/F landscapes, but portraits look just as fabbadoodaaa.
Its all about size of print and the recorded detail in that print.
If you aren't gonna print, the only other thing not allready mentioned is the camera movements, being able to shoot a scene with sharpness front to back regardless of the f/stop number will show through in print and scan.
Personally, I only ever considered 10x8 and contact printing, but I wouldn't take any persuading to shoot 5x4, the condition is that they got printed.
Thats the thing.....I wouldn't shoot L/F unless I was prepared to print, and the audience will not be in cyberspace.
The "joy" of a 10x8 or 5x4 tranny is impossible to share except in person, so I'd be doing it for myself.
 
Well thanks Joxby, all good points but none that really help me at all there. :LOL::LOL:

I comes down to this. I want to get another view camera. It's very likely to be the technikardan. Would I be better of with the slightly smaller 6x9 version or the full 5x4.

What I must have in this camera is the ground glass and the full range of movements of both standards. What I don't know if I need is the size of neg or not.

it's not such a night and day difference. I'd say 35mm ---> 6x4.5 ----> 9x6 ---> 12.5x10 are all about equal steps in terms of overall IQ. :shrug:
 
If your not going to print everything, you probably dont need 5x4, but I don't know what cameras are available with the same amount of movements for 120 film, unless it is a 5x4 with a mask or a back for 6x9, either way it'll might be sheet film.
I dont see any value in shooting 5x4 with a 6x9 mask or back, might aswell be 5x4.
Unless the back itself takes 120 roll film....I dunno:shrug:
 
Unless the back itself takes 120 roll film....I dunno
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That's exactly it. The camera in the link up there is just the same as the 5x4 technikardan, except smaller for a 120 film mag instead of a 5x4 darkslide.
 
Took a proper look, I don't know anything about that camera, it doesn't seem to indicate that it takes 6x9 roll film, it says 6x9 but I cant see a roll film carrier, or sheet film holder for that matter.
Dunno if something is missing or it takes 6x9 sheet film, I dont think you can buy that, you'd have to cut your own from 5x4.
I shall research, unless you know better.
Looks to be plenty of movement on it, monorails bend allover the gaff.

edit.....is the roll film carrier the box with the angled viewfinder ?

edit edit....no it cant be its too flimsy flappy
 
Ahhh......it takes a 2x3 film holder

how does that work then, cut 5x4 sheet film or cut roll film up in the dark ?

linhof super rollex & cine rollex roll film back

715128,1.jpg


this wasn't in the auction
 
I did try MF - with a borrowed Hassleblad - but only once. LF wasn't that much more difficult to carry around and the results so much better. But my subjects weren't moving, if they had been MF might have been more attractive.
 
dazzajl said:
Cheers Grant. I know the 5x4 is a far superior format for overall IQ. What I've started to question is when will I actually see that extra IQ, apart from on my lightbox.

I've had something in just about every film format there is, so I know what I'd be getting either way. It's me questioning how much of my desire for a 5x4 technikardan over a 6x9 version is snobbery and how much is need for IQ. :shrug::shrug::shrug:
Click to expand...
I think you'll be able to get yourself a 6 x 9 film holder for the LF. So you can have you cake and eat it too. I've got a Horsman and it's fantastic peice of kit. Go for it my boy.
 
Cheers badger and folks. :)

To be totally clear... the camera will be a view camera with all the movements (99% a technikardan as above). I will under a darkcloth like a weirdo geeky thing peering at an upsidedown and back to front image on the ground glass.

The only thing that I'm not sure about at the mo is whether to stick sheets of 5x4 film on the back or get the slightly smaller chassis, use a 120 film mag and capture 6x9's.

As crushing decisions go, this one isn't too bad in terms of win/win. :D
 
JFDI! :D

Can't believe there were no bids on that camera!
 
CT said:
JFDI! :D
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Well it's actually a bit of inheritance that'll arrive sometime soonish that's been earmarked for this.

My dear old grandma was an art student up to her last days in her late 80's and it just feels right to make sure that the bit of cash she left to me gets spent on the arts somehow.

And what better way than a totally impractical machine to make slow, considered and beautiful art with. :D
 
Don't skimp. 5*4.

Ignoring even the lure of those massive trannies the raw detail is still a factor, almost regardless of how large you're printing.

I have two fiber prints of the same chap. He's a fisherman with a hefty, wiry beard. Both are shot in the studio and are very similar - one is from a 6*7 neg, the other from a 5*4" neg. Both are lovely, but it doesn't take long to see which is the MF and which is the LF. The LF one pops that much more. Go 5*4.

It would also really rile me to shoot rolls as opposed to frames on LF, but that depends on shooting style.
 
Don't skimp. 5*4.
Click to expand...

I think that pretty much sums it up. :D

If it's worth doing, it's worth doing it right. The deciding moment was when I changed my sig. I've always shot my own stuff for the joy of shooting it and why should I rob myself of that lightbox moment for a slightly slicker workflow.
 
Excellent. Let us know what you get when you source your kit.
 
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