First outing with 4x5": thoughts and a portfolio

[Vieri Bottazzini]

Hello everyone,

After months studying and preparing myself for the move back to analog photography, in early September 2024 my wife and I were ready to hit the road again. This time, after 15 years of doing professional landscape photography with digital cameras, from 35mm to digital backs with tech cameras, I didn’t have one with me. Instead, I was proudly carrying a 4x5” film camera with me, my Arca-Swiss F-line custom.

I wrote an article on my Blog about the experience, sharing my thoughts and a small Portfolio shot in Kent & Sussex, in the UK, which you can find here:

FIRST OUTING WITH 4X5” FILM: THOUGHTS AND A PORTFOLIO

A few photographs here for you to enjoy!







Best regards,

Vieri

[Jonathan Cross]

Great set of images. I am intrigued your processing which seems to  be about producing a negative. Did you then produce a positive, enlarging or not, or did you scan the negative?  If the latter, did you scan yourself or did you have it done commercially? What was the scanning resolution? How did you then digitally produce a positive and how big was the print? If you printed from the negative what paper did you use.
To provide the images for your post you must have digitised at some point if you printed without scanning, so did you digitise the negative or the print?
LOL OK
This is probably too many questions, but you have got me interested!

Jonathan

[Vieri Bottazzini]

Great set of images. I am intrigued your processing which seems to  be about producing a negative. Did you then produce a positive, enlarging or not, or did you scan the negative?  If the latter, did you scan yourself or did you have it done commercially? What was the scanning resolution? How did you then digitally produce a positive and how big was the print? If you printed from the negative what paper did you use.
To provide the images for your post you must have digitised at some point if you printed without scanning, so did you digitise the negative or the print?
LOL OK
This is probably too many questions, but you have got me interested!

Jonathan

LOL Hey Jonathan, no worries about the questions of course, happy to try and answer them as best as I could!

Currently, my process is hybrid - I am fully analog until I get to the developed negative, which I do develop on my own; then, I scan the negative, currently with an Epson V850 Perfection Pro, using a ANR glass rather than the not-so-good Epson 4x5" holders, and from then on I am fully digital. I clean dust and process the negative digitally, and print it digitally. While I did print back in the day, it's been ages since I was in a darkroom for printing and at the moment I haven't the time (and I am afraid the skills anymore!) to do wet printing... maybe at some point in the future, but no plans in that direction for now.

Best regards,

Vieri

[kers]

first of all - very nice images - I have worked with 4x5 inch and scanned them to find out how much dust has to be cleaned!
I did not use colornegative, but slides for colour because i had a problem getting the colour right in the scanning process; but then slides are more difficult in the sense of exposure and limited dynamic range. BW of course has the least problem in this respect and you can develop them yourself. It is a pity you cannot buy kodak Technical Pan anymore - an amazing film.

As i am correct you went from Hasselblad 100MP to Phase One 150MP and now 4x5 "...
In line with quality upgrade i would have thought you woud choose 10x12". That also fits your non-pro scanner better.
So why not 10x12? I do not think 4x5 " is an upgrade to Phase one 150MP. or am i mistaken?

[Vieri Bottazzini]

first of all - very nice images - I have worked with 4x5 inch and scanned them to find out how much dust has to be cleaned!
I did not use colornegative, but slides for colour because i had a problem getting the colour right in the scanning process; but then slides are more difficult in the sense of exposure and limited dynamic range. BW of course has the least problem in this respect and you can develop them yourself. It is a pity you cannot buy kodak Technical Pan anymore - an amazing film.

As i am correct you went from Hasselblad 100MP to Phase One 150MP and now 4x5 "...
In line with quality upgrade i would have thought you woud choose 10x12". That also fits your non-pro scanner better.
So why not 10x12? I do not think 4x5 " is an upgrade to Phase one 150MP. or am i mistaken?

Hello Peter,

thank you for your comment, glad you enjoyed these! About film, while I love working with 4x5" for B&W, if I did photograph in colour I would most definitely stick with digital rather than using colour film (negative or slides).

About quality, I am not sure what you mean by 10x12 - if you mean 10x12cm, that IS 4x5" inches, which is what I am using now. If you mean 8x10 inches, or 11x14 inches, then I am sorry but I am never going to move to a larger format than 4x5", portability in the field is too important for me.

About my progression, I moved from 35mm (Leica SL) to MF (Hasselblad X1D) to Phase One (IQ4 and IQ4 Achromatic) and now 4x5". To answer your question, one would need to define "upgrade". Film and digital, for me, are two different things; a bit like comparing apples and oranges. There is no doubt that the Phase One IQ4 Achromatic, with modern Rodenstock digital lenses, renders sharper images than 4x5" film. But, that is digital sharpness, for better or worse; and, sharpness is not the only parameter of image quality, for me.

Best regards,

Vieri

[kers]

...
About my progression, I moved from 35mm (Leica SL) to MF (Hasselblad X1D) to Phase One (IQ4 and IQ4 Achromatic) and now 4x5". To answer your question, one would need to define "upgrade". Film and digital, for me, are two different things; a bit like comparing apples and oranges. There is no doubt that the Phase One IQ4 Achromatic, with modern Rodenstock digital lenses, renders sharper images than 4x5" film. But, that is digital sharpness, for better or worse; and, sharpness is not the only parameter of image quality, for me.
Best regards,

Vieri

I totally agree that digital is different from analogue in many ways, but then also in the printing process. BW-prints made on Baryta paper in a wet process is still something special, especially the depth of the dark tones.
Although I have spend many days/years in the darkroom printing and developing, i must say i am glad these days are over; I have since 2007 a large format printer that prints a fine BW and accurate color.

[Vieri Bottazzini]

I totally agree that digital is different from analogue in many ways, but then also in the printing process. BW-prints made on Baryta paper in a wet process is still something special, especially the depth of the dark tones.
Although I have spend many days/years in the darkroom printing and developing, i must say i am glad these days are over; I have since 2007 a large format printer that prints a fine BW and accurate color.

That is true, wet printing is an art by itself, but as you, it's been decades since I set foot in a darkroom for printing and i have no desire to go back. I love the quality of film negatives, but then I just scan them, process them and print them digitally.

Best regards,

Vieri

[Paulo Bizarro]

Wonderful set.

[langier]

+1, Vieri!

Watching your work over the years, one can always expect great work from you no matter your tools.

[Vieri Bottazzini]

Wonderful set.

Thank you very much Paulo, I'm glad you enjoyed these!

+1, Vieri!

Watching your work over the years, one can always expect great work from you no matter your tools.

Thank you very much indeed Larry, that is truly kind of you to say, happy you enjoyed these!

Best regards,

Vieri

[maddogmurph]

The second image appears to show a very wide dynamic range. I have a couple of 4x5's in my shed collecting dust, and haven't really bothered because I've felt the dynamic range (DR) was not going to come close to digital with a blend. How many stops do you think you're getting?

[Vieri Bottazzini]

The second image appears to show a very wide dynamic range. I have a couple of 4x5's in my shed collecting dust, and haven't really bothered because I've felt the dynamic range (DR) was not going to come close to digital with a blend. How many stops do you think you're getting?

Hey Murph, the difference between black & white film & digital is basically that you can "fine tune" your dynamic range by playing with exposure and development; you can expose for the shadows, to get all the details you want there, and then develop for the highlights, to preserve them from burning. Doing so, one can pretty much control any scene, except for the most extreme. If you shoot colour, on the other hand, you are limited by the dynamic range of the film you are using.

Hope this helps, best regards

Vieri