The Phase One XC is an unusual camera, and not just because of its $62,490 asking price. It's designed with a specific purpose in mind and it sports a fixed lens in front of a massive 150-megapixel medium format sensor.
Fujifilm has come to dominate the medium format market and for good reason. Combining the ergonomic controls and autofocusing capabilities of its APS-C cameras with the colossal image quality from the 100-megapixel sensor has paid dividends for the company. Although Fujifilm also uses a 50-megapixel sensor, it's the latest sensors in the GFX 100 line of cameras that steal the show.
I write about a lot of things here at PetaPixel -- reviews, guides, technical articles, opinion pieces -- but one of my favorite topics to write about is the history of photography. As an avid user and collector of vintage cameras and lenses, I have passionately absorbed as much knowledge about their history as possible over many years. Like studying world history, there is much value in understanding where we came from and what got to us where we are now.
Anyone who has trawled through a historic photo archive knows the feeling of spotting a large-format photo. Like spotting a beautiful woman in a crowd, it’s hard to drag your eyes away. That depth and clarity, which seems to top reality itself, has only ever been possible with a film plane measured in inches rather than millimeters.
In her lifetime, Evelyn Hofer was underrated in photography circles mainly because she was seen as too "commercial." But, the incredible body of work she left behind is challenging this assessment.
As "Barbenheimer" sets records at the box office this weekend, Kodak has revealed it manufactured a special black and white film stock for use in Oppenheimer.
The Ondu Eikan is a large format camera system designed to "grow" with photographers thanks to its modular design.
Sphere Studios has developed a brand new type of cinema camera called The Big Sky. It features a single 316-megapixel HDR image sensor that the company says is a 40x resolution increase over existing 4K cameras and PetaPixel was given an exclusive look at the incredible technology.
A photographer has renovated his 100-year-old 8x10 large format film camera after its original bellows began leaking light.
A Ukrainian photographer documents his family's life on large format cameras as they live through the Russian invasion. He then prints the photos on the soil of his country.
A photographer who has been capturing demolitions on large format cameras for 15 years only gets one shot to capture the one-off explosion.
Photographer Gregor Sailer travels to remote, hidden areas at the ends of the Earth so he can document them on large format cameras.
Photographer Noritaka Minami spent over a decade documenting the iconic Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo on large format cameras before it was demolished last month.
Photographer Matt Alberts used an antiquated wet plate tintype camera to cover the modern world of freeride motocross.
Luxury car manufacturer Pagani has teamed up with Italian large format camera maker Gibellini to produce a limited edition, opulent 8x10 analog camera.
Photographer Richard Malogorski uses an incredibly complex 1915 Cirkut camera to capture 360-degree panoramics on film.
Terry Gruber is probably one of the last portrait photographers in the United States to still use a 100-year-old, 12x20-inch banquet camera for its original purpose: capturing large groups in formal occasions.
Wet plate photographer Markus Hofstätter took it upon himself to bring a giant 73-kilogram (160-pounds) ultra-large format flatbed scanner back to life, a process that took three full months.
IMAX is developing a new film camera and is tapping the likes of visionary directors Jordan Peele and Christopher Nolan to help design it.
In December 2012, I made my first trip to the Bridge of Orchy. It’s a beautiful area just an hour and a half drive north of the hustle and bustle of Glasgow. It was a last-minute decision to head north from my home as there was the prospect of snow.
With a large-format camera in hand and a literal artistic license -- issued by the Treasure Department -- in his pocket, American photographer Andrew Moore was granted permission to travel to Cuba in 1998 to document the distinct and unique architecture.
I do mainly large format photography, and I often take my own self-portrait by using my pneumatic cable release that has a long cable and air bulb release. However, I have long been thinking about how to make a more modern kind of remote cable release. In this article, I will show how I created a DIY remote cable release.
Photography as an art isn't easy, but running a successful photography business is even more challenging. Despite this, Noyel Gallimore managed to build a business focused around the oft-forgotten art of large format and tintype photography.
Wet plate photographer Markus Hofstätter recently acquired a Zeiss 300mm f/4.5 lens, and although it produced beautiful results, the process of getting to a finished image was filled with numerous obstacles along the way.
Every photographer has a humble beginning. Somewhere in the awkwardness is a pivotal moment that sends their photographic trajectory barrelling forward.
Not many people own a 4x5 camera let along actually use them, which makes Lomography's new LomoGraflok 4x5 Instant Back particularly interesting. It allows those with 4x5 Graflok-equipped large format cameras to shoot with Fujifilm Instax Wide film It's niche, but should appeal to a very small, but passionate, group of photographers.
Whether you are a working professional or a weekend hobbyist, the thrill of using truly exquisite gear is unmatched. We all work with what we have while salivating over what we cannot, and no matter how old we get, fancy toys never lose their luster. Do we need them? Probably not. Will we ever purchase them? Not likely. Will we spend hours staring at them? You bet. Nothing is as intoxicating to a photographer as good, outrageously expensive glass.
Photographer Markus Hofstätter -- known for his collodion wet-plate photography expertise -- decided to try something different and used the 170-year old shooting process to capture incredibly detailed high-end food photos.
In 2014, I started my project Applied Metaphysics – Ground Truth on exemplary still life. The goal was to produce very large prints (2 to 9 square meters and more) at a high resolution so that people could look at them very closely.
Although large-format photography may be an intricate and slow process often shot in a studio, it doesn't mean that it can't be taken outdoors with a little ingenuity.
I recently shared about how I turned my Afghan Box Camera into a 4×5 slide projector. In this article, I'll share another idea based on the Afghan Box Camera: to make use of my humble mobile phone camera to create a large format look with the box camera and its lens.
Autumn is something I never miss when it comes to photography. I may be working on other projects …
We all love interesting and perhaps somewhat obscure facts and anyone reading this site has at least a moderate interest in cameras -- and hopefully, their history. Part of that history includes the unique, weird, one-of-a-kind, and (you guessed it) extremely expensive cameras which have, in one way or another, played a role in paving the way to where we are today.
Well-known wet plate photographer Markus Hofstätter recently purchased an old wet-plate camera, repaired it to a working condition, and added two lenses to it with the help of his 3D printer.
A film photographer has launched a crowdfunding campaign for DIY pinhole camera kits with the aim of making large-format shooting affordable, accessible, and easy.
LargeSense has announced the first commercially available 4x5 digital back: the LS45. It can create true, large-format images in a medium other than film and is designed for the Graflok or International standard, can capture both RAW photos and videos, and costs $26,000.
I have been shooting 4x5 color transparencies or commonly known as color slide film for many years but the best that I could enjoy them was to put them on the light table and viewing them through a loupe. Unlike my 35mm and 120 slides, I have never seen them projected big simply it is not easy to locate a 4×5 slide projector.
After an accident that left an otherwise well-built Linhof tripod in a bad shape, watch as photographer Markus Hofstätter brought it back to life with full functionality.
In an effort to take advantage of an old Rodenstock newspaper enlargement lens that was only being used as a paperweight, photographer Tim Hamilton has constructed an enormous "ultra-large-format" projection camera that he has used to capture unique photos and videos.
Photographer Markus Hofstätter discovered a family of swans and, over time, gained their trust enough to approach and photograph them. Eventually, he decided to do so with his large-format camera and an expired Kodak Readyload film.