I’ve chatted about large format cameras before and have been shooting on medium and large format film for years for Watershed and other work.

Small Big Format
My current large format camera is a 4″x5″ Graflex Press Camera – it’s cutting edge technology from the 1930’s. It was THE camera for photojournalists back then.

In the scope of large format cameras the Graflex is small.
4×5 is massive compared modern SLR cameras. But, well, it’s not big, really big.
I want big.

Watershed Exhibition @ Ottawa International Airport – Large Format Prints

Benefits of BIG
Big is nice because it’ll allow BIG prints. Yes, yes, good, big prints can be made by modern digital cameras. I have a giga-mega pixel camera that I use commercially (and I love it.)

But what I really love is the process of BIG. It’s slow and forces you to be precise. And instead of looking at hundreds of teeny previews on the back of your camera or monitor you get to look at a few large, beautiful transparencies or negatives – the way photography was intended to be seen.

Lovely.

Camera Building

Building Big Cameras
I’ve been looking for an 8×10 camera and while there are hundreds/thousands out there, it seems most people refuse to part with them. New is nice but, erm, pricey.

So, after hours of internet snooping and talking to people, I decided to build one.
It’s well on it’s way, thanks to John, friend, neigbour, engineer and grade 7 classmate.

I’ve also been excited about trying two new things that haven’t been done much.
Fun and exciting for Harry.
Stay tuned.