Large Format (photography)

Large Format (photography)

Large format refers to any imaging format of 4×5 inches (102×127 mm) or larger. Large format is larger than "medium format", the 6×6 cm (2¼×2¼ inch) or 6×9 cm (2¼×3½ inch) size of Hasselblad, Rollei, Kowa, and Pentax cameras (using 120- and 220-roll film), and much larger than the 24×36 mm (~ 1.0x1.5 inch) frame of 35 mm format.

The main advantage of large format, film or digital, is higher resolution. A 4×5 inch image has about 16 times the area, and thus 16× the total resolution, of a 35 mm frame.

In early photography, large format was all there was, and before enlargers were common, it was normal to just make 1:1 contact prints from a 4×5, 5×7, or 8×10 inch negative.

The most common large format is 4×5 inches, which was the size of common cameras used in the 1930s-1950s, like the Graflex Speed Graphic and Crown Graphic, among others. Less common formats include quarter-plate, 5×7 inches, 8×10 inches (20×25 cm); the size of many old 1920s Kodak cameras (various versions of Kodak 1, 2, 3, and Master View cameras, to much later Sinar etc. monorail studio cameras), 11×14 inches, 16×20 inches, 20×24 inches, various panoramic or "banquet" formats (such as 4×10 and 8×20 inches), as well as metric formats, including 9×12 cm, 10×13 cm, and 13×18 cm, and assorted old and current aerial image formats of 9×9 inches, 9×18 inches (K17, K18, K19, K22 etc.)), using roll film of 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, or 10 inches width or digital sensors, view cameras (including pinhole cameras), reproduction / process cameras, and x-ray film and digital cameras.

Above 8×10 inches, the formats are often referred to as Ultra Large Format (ULF) and may be 11×14, 16×20, 20×24 inches, or as large as film, plates, sensors, or cameras are available. Many large formats (e.g., 24×24, 36x36, 48x48 inches) are horizontal cameras designed to make big negatives for contact printing onto press-printing plates.

The Polaroid 20×24 camera is one of the largest format instant cameras currently in common usage, and can be hired from Polaroid agents in various countries. Many well-known photographers have used the 235 pounds (107 kg), wheeled-chassis Polaroid.