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I have a little bit of a desire to research how this professional photographer uses a 4x5 to shoot a panoramic landscape...

Alex Burke

What is his method for producing these wide format prints from a 4x5 aspect ratio camera?

Would he digitally crop a square 4x5 photo? I have some experience with a roll film 617 adapter (medium format) for a large format camera, but I am tinkering around the idea of trying out a 4x5 someday.

The guy also has a blog post about selecting a lens for large format. What size lens would be best for outdoor panoramas? Would it be possible to guess that Alex Burke uses something like 150mm for larger on his work?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Hi Henry. Can you edit your question to make the title clear? As written, your title is more adjectives and nouns, more like keywords or a subject tag. What about large format film? Imagine if many/all of the large-format questions were titled "Large format film"... =) \$\endgroup\$
    – scottbb ♦
    May 20, 2019 at 23:54
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    \$\begingroup\$ The body of your "question" has too many questions. Can you narrow it down to just one? \$\endgroup\$
    – xiota
    May 21, 2019 at 0:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ All of the sub-questions are related to how wide aspect ratio panoramic images are produced using a 4x5 camera. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    May 21, 2019 at 16:05

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Does seem like a strange, wasteful choice. Film flatness maybe--there are good cheap 4x5 sheet holders; decent 612 and 617 holders are expensive.

He seems to have to a lot of 5:2 aspect ratio, that'd be a 615 back that I don't think exists from a quality brand.

But more likely someone who owned and understood 4x5 wanted to do panos and shot what he had handy rather than buying new toys.

Also not implausible to use half darkslides to get two exposures per sheet of 4x5 at this aspect ratio.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I am one of those people who would rather do it right when taking the picture than to later choose a favourable crop from an entire 4x5 frame. Choosing a 6x12/6x17 back over a 4x5 one would make perfect sense to me. My wallet, however, would strongly disagree. \$\endgroup\$
    – timvrhn
    May 21, 2019 at 8:55
  • \$\begingroup\$ but ultimately is it cheaper to shoot a 4x5 then crop it photoshop? I am hoping to learn more about if online services exist for developing 4x5, drum scan, then return a digital image back to you... And how much per shot it costs to have that as well. \$\endgroup\$
    – bbartling
    May 21, 2019 at 17:43
  • \$\begingroup\$ I know how a roll film adapter works on a large format film camera, but the slide film I have no idea. Can one put those in the mail to ship somewhere to develop & scan? \$\endgroup\$
    – bbartling
    May 21, 2019 at 17:44

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