I’ve recently begun shooting with a Tachihara 4×5 Field Camera, and let me tell you it has been alot of fun! Although it looks like an antique, it was made in the modern era and cameras like it are still made to this day. A field camera is essentially a folding box that opens up with a lens board on one end, a ground glass and film holder on the other, and a light proof belows to connect them. Although many advances have been made in camera technology to help us do things faster and easier, the ultimate in quality is still obtained by shooting large format. Aside from the insane level of image quality, the process of shooting large format film has been a great experience.

Yep, that’s right, film! I shoot Fuji Provia 100F film, which is an excellent fine grained film that captures natural looking colors and scans well. That is an unexposed sheet of Provia in the center, with a bottle cap for scale. The film must be loaded into film holders (top right) before it can be used with the view camera. Opening boxes of film and loading holders must be done in total darkness, either in a darkroom or a special lightproof changing bag. I currently have five double sided film holders, so I can make a maximum of 10 exposures in a single outing. Each exposure costs approximately $5 for film and development. Needless to say, it is important to be very deliberate and careful when shooting large format.

I am currently shooting with two different lenses, a Nikon 90mm f/8 wide angle and a Nikon 180mm f/5.6 normal lens. These are approximately the same field of view as a 24mm lens and a 50mm lens on a regular 35mm camera. Large format lenses have much slower maximum apertures than SLR lenses, rarely exceeding f/5.6. The aperture must be adjusted manually using a lever attached to the shutter, and the shutter itself is a spring mechanism that must be cocked between each exposure.

After you get the camera set up, you focus and compose your image using the ground glass on the back of the camera. The image is projected onto the ground glass upside down. It might seem awkward, but it I haven’t found it to be much of an issue. Lenses with large apertures help with composition and focusing since they will project a brighter image. In dim light a dark cloth is usually necessary to shade the ground glass.

In my next post, I will share a selection of my large format photos from my recent trip to Moab, Utah.