Does large format officially start with 4x5? I always thought anything larger than medium 6 cm x 6 cm is large format
Well wiki says this:
"Large format photography refers to any imaging format of 9 cm × 12 cm (3.5 in × 4.7 in) or larger. Large format is larger than "medium format", the 6 cm × 6 cm (2.4 in × 2.4 in) or 6 cm × 9 cm (2.4 in × 3.5 in) size of Hasselblad, Mamiya, Rollei, Kowa, and Pentax cameras (using 120- and 220-roll film), and much larger than the 24 mm × 36 mm (0.94 in × 1.42 in) frame of 35 mm format."
Well the logic starts post WWII with 9x12cm and 5x4 film & plate holders having the same outside dimension, and then these sizes along with Half plate, Whole Plate, 7x5 and European equivalents up to 10x8, all being classed as Large forma. Anything larger is termed Ultra large format.
This is a change from pre-WWII when any camera from 6.5x9 cm and smaller, inc 35mm, was termed Miniature format, Quarter plate to Whole plate Medium format, and here in the UK, 10x8, 12x10, & 15x12 Large format.
Big improvements in films & plates during WWII hastened the switch to smaller formats, 35mm 127, 120, which had begun to accelerate through the 1930s first with Leica, the Contax and Rolleiflex, alter with the first 35mm reflex camera the Exacta. This is a British/Europe perspective, WWII had a far greater effect on change in the UK/Europe than in the US market. Our economies were suffering severe austerity measures as we rebuilt and recovered, in the UK you needed a special licence to impart a camera, and that was only lifted in the early 1950s. Even then cameras/lenses were deemed Luxury goods and Purchase Tax was 33.3%
The improvements in films.plates had started with the firstmoder range of films from Liford Fine Grain Panchomatic, (FP) and Hypersensitive Panchroatic (HP), in the early 30s, and the FP2 & HP2 just before the outbreak of the war, followed by FP3 & HP3 plates in 1942, sheet fim 1943.
Ian
