Research into photographic equipment

35mm Camera Format:

The film size for this camera is 35mm, the camera is affordable at about £100, and it is quite small so therefore  very portable to go round and take pictures of anything you see, you don't have to spend ages setting up. On the film you can get 36 shots which is quite good. Here is a photo taken with a 35mm Camera >>

The only thing is that the quality of the photographs arent that great, but still good. This camera format is perfect for Photojournalism, Family pictures and Sport.

The basic 35mm SLR camera consists of the body and the lense. The lense contains two rings, a focusing ring and an aperture ring.

Studio!

Medium Camera Format:

There are a lot of different film sizes for this camera, 120 film: 6x4.5cm, 6x6cm, 6x7cm, 6x9cm, 6x12cm, 6x17cm, 6x24cm. The camera isnt that cheep and is quite expensive. The camera is not very portable if you are walking from place to place, if you had a car to get to your locations then it would be a lot easier. On the film you can get 16-3 shots per roll depending on the film size. Here is a photograph taken on a Medium Format Camera <<

The quality of the photographs from this camera are of a good quality and the camera is perfect for studio work such as fashion and portraiture, it is also good for landscape work, but then again you will have to get there by car if you can.

Another advantage to Medium Format Cameras is their interchangeable parts such as Lenses, Winding mechanisms, Viewfinders and Camera backs. This makes it easier for the Photographer to compare the difference between the lenses and see which looks better without having to move from the position they have set up in to use a different camera altogether, also this means that they wont have to take as much equipment with them.

Large Camera Format:

The two sizes for a Large Camera Format are 5"x4" and 10"x8". The cameras themselves are very expensive and you can only get 2 sheets per dark slide which are also expensive, the camera isn't very protable either unless you have a car, however the photographs that this camera produces are of excellent quality! Here is a photograph taken by a Large Camera Format >>

Large Camera Formats are perfect for studio work such as, Advertising, Pack-shots, Food and Fine art, they also take amazing Landscape photographs as seen in this example.

Usually when you load each sheet by hand into the film holder you must do so in a darkroom or else you will ruin them. You can now buy film already packaged into sleves that you can use in broad daylight with a polaroid holder these are called "Readyload" or "Quickload" and cost more because of the convenience for the photographer as they don't have to load them themselves the day before a shoot.

Darkroom!

Enlargers:

An enlarger is used to produce photographic prints from film or glass negatives.

The enlarger is what is used to make the photographs that you have shot larger and different sizes, it allows you to make different sizes images from the same developed photograph. There is an enlarger head half way down the column which rises up and down, and when you adjust the height, you change the size of the image. An enlarger helps to improve your photographic composition.

Enlarger Timers:

Enlarger timers are connected to the light on the enlarger and it depends on the exposure that you have decided is best for your photograph from your test strips as to how long to set the f-stop for for your final print.