Why I Love Large Format Cameras

because I can get this

from this.

See the amount of detail? It´s a 430 percent crop.
Large format cameras give you unlimited power in terms of resolution. They come cheap via ebay, some of them don´t weigh more than a full-grown DSLR setup and they are great fun to use.

The full image is a mediocre (!) 26.5 MP scan homemade on a rather simple flatbed scanner (HP Scanjet G4050). The red rectangle shows the area the crop was taken from. Hell, I am short of needing a model release contract with everyone in the building!

THIS IMAGE WAS TAKEN WITH A 50 YEAR OLD SCHNEIDER LENS!

The camera I used is so old, it ain´t black but has a green hammer finish, the lens is from an age where they made them shine in a silver look and still I can get a tack-sharp image! I scanned another shot, cropped it to the top third and I STILL GOT A 33 MEGAPIXEL IMAGE. You can print that wall-size even from a cropped scan!

This example was shot on 4x5 inch color negative film (Kodak Portra 160 NC), you can even get more detailed pics using slide film.
If I had this picture scanned on a drum scanner in a professional lab, I could get two thousand megapixels. Imagine the print size!

4x5" Sinar Norma meets famous Rollei 35. Wouldn´t you love to use these ladies? Norma rests on my Manfrotto Studio tripod, Rollie glances from the legs of a nice Cullman pocket tripod.

Save reality. Go shoot large format.