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Camera
with an 8 x 10 view camera, which requires many minutes for setting up the tripod, focusing, stopping
the lens down to taking aperture, closing the shutter, cocking the shutter, film loading, dark slide
removal, and exposure. If your subject is a big mountain, you can probably afford to take your time
making the image.
Now that we have the factors in mind, let's dive into the types of cameras available:
● view cameras (sheet film + perspective control)
● single-lens reflex cameras (roll film, heavy in larger formats, very limited perspective control)
● twin-lens reflex cameras (roll film, light and cheap, no perspective control)
● rangefinder cameras (roll film, lightweight, no perspective control)
● panoramic cameras (view camera lens + rangefinder body or rotating lens)
Film Sizes
A camera won't do you much good unless you can buy film in the right size for it. Companies like Fuji
and Kodak will generally make the same emulsion (film formulation) in a variety of sizes.
Almost every emulsion will be available in 35mm cartridges. The standard frame size for a 35mm
camera is 24 x 36 mm.
Most emulsions are available in "120 size" roll film. There are many standard widths for 120 camera
frames: 645, 6x6, 6x7, 6x8, 6x9, 6x12, and 6x17. These numbers are ostensibly in centimeters although
in practice a 6x6 camera such as a Hasselblad will expose a 56 x 56 mm frame. Comparatively few
emulsions are available in 220, which is the same as 120 except that you get twice as many exposures/
roll (24 rather than 12 for 6x6; 8 rather than 4 for 6x17 panoramics).
If you need a larger negative than roll film, you must use sheet film. Standard American sizes are 4x5,
5x7, 8x10, and 11x14. The dimensions are in inches. The largest sizes are wonderful for those who do
darkroom work because they can be contact-printed into final framable results, avoiding the degradation
of an enlarger lens. However, there is very little emulsion choice in 11x14 and not too much in 8x10 or
5x7 either. Given the high quality of modern optics and film, for most applications these days, a 4 x 5
inch sheet of film is large enough. Therefore that's where most of the demand is and where you get the
best choice of emulsions.
I'm not going to let my article on APS film and cameras serve as my repository for what I know about
this format (somewhat smaller than 35mm). Despite the intriguing nature of spy cameras such as the
Minox (Austin Powers used one to copy documents), film formats significantly smaller than 35mm are
generally not useful for serious photographers.
View Cameras
http://www.photo.net/making-photographs/camera (2 of 9)7/3/2005 2:22:21 AM