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Category: Definition of Photography Terms

Photography Question 

Brittney Alexander
 

What Are They?


Ok, this may (and probably does) sound like a stupid question but what is medium, large, ect. format? I AM NEW AT THIS! Obviously :)


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December 23, 2003

 
- Gregory LaGrange

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  Dosen't sound stupid. That's the different types of film as far as the size of the film. You have 35mm film, and you have film that is physically larger in size, medium format and large format.
A camera like a Hassleblad, or Mamaiya make medium and large format cameras. Sometimes you may hear it called 6x7 because one side of the negative image is 70mm on medium format. Large format may be somewhere around 90mm, I'm not sure about that. There's even cameras that use film in big sheets that are 8x10 inches in size.

Reason to use medium and large format is that because the negative is bigger, you get sharper images because you start out having to enlarge it less for a given print size. If it sounds like measuring by millimeters wouldn't make a difference, you have to look at how much a medium format neg. is bigger than 35mm neg. in percentages.


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December 23, 2003

 

Jon Close
  There have been a miriad of different film sizes over the last 100 years.

Small format is 35mm (24mm x 36mm image), APS (16.7mm x 30.2mm), as well as the discontinued 126 cartridge (28mm x 28mm). This category also includes 110 cartridge (13mm x 17mm), Kodak's short-lived disc film, and the even smaller film for Minox spy cameras, though these are also referred to as subminiature formats.

Medium format generally refers to 2 1/4" (60mm) wide roll film (120 and 220), and also includes other discontinued films of similar size, such as 620. The most common medium format cameras use this film to make images that are either 6x9 (60mm x 90mm), 6x7 (60mm x 70mm), 6x6 (60mm square), or 6x4.5 (60mm x 45mm).

Large Format is 4" x 5", 8" x 10", or larger. The film is in single sheets rather than the rolls used in the smaller formats.


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December 24, 2003

 
- Gregory LaGrange

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  meant to say 6x7 and 70mm, not 67


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December 24, 2003

 
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