What are 4x5 films?

[dimitriroleda]

I'm gonna be a total noob and ask this question, simply because I couldn't find the "clear" answer anywhere 😀

What are the 4x5 films, and how are they different from the 135 & 120's? How are they used?

Thanks and I hope to hear from you guys soon!

Regards,
Dimitri Roleda

 

[erikhaugsby]

4x5 is a "sheet film," meaning one exposure exists on a piece of film 4x5 inches in diamater. It is used in large-format view or field cameras.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheet_film

 

[Anupam]

Try this short article I wrote up for a friend

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

Four inches one way, and five inches the other way.

In sheets, not rolls.

 

[dimitriroleda]

Oh ok now I get it...Thanks for the info guys!

 

[wintoid]

The whole thing's a mess isn't it? I mean 35mm film is actually 24mm x 36mm and also known as 135 (why?). 120 film is 6cm x 6cm (right?), so why the 120? Then 5 x 4 is in inches!!

 

[Anupam]

And they insist on calling 4x5, 5x4 in the UK! 🙂

 

[btgc]

The whole thing's a mess isn't it? I mean 35mm film is actually 24mm x 36mm and also known as 135 (why?). 120 film is 6cm x 6cm (right?), so why the 120? Then 5 x 4 is in inches!!

probably because sheet film is right one (full frame), so it even has meaningful naming 😉

well, 135 is 35mm wide. Don't know explanation for 120.

 

[rxmd]

I mean 35mm film is actually 24mm x 36mm and also known as 135 (why?). 120 film is 6cm x 6cm (right?), so why the 120?

Those numbers (120 etc.) were Kodak product codes for roll film. There were a lot of different roll film formats, the most well-known being 120, and some other well-known ones being 122, 126, 127 and 620. The 6xx films were usually 1xx films with a different spool. An overview of some of them is here.

The clou about 135 was not the film format (which is a very old format for movie film), but the canister. Kodak later had this canister standardized in ISO 1007. It's called 35mm film because it is in fact 35mm wide; 24x36mm is the format of the picture, not the film, and the picture fits on the film sideways to make room for the perforation.

Kodak later reused some of the codes, such as 110, which originally was a 4x5 inch roll film. In 1972, they reassigned this number, which was by then referring to an utterly obsolete film, to their newly developed pocket camera cassette which we now refer to as the 110 cassette.

Philipp

 

[Spider67]

As much as I know 135, 120, 127, 110, 126 were simply codenumbers for the formats by Kodak. There were for example 620 films the same size as 120 but with thinner spools which makes using cameras of that format a bit tricky

Philipp beat me!

 

[dimitriroleda]

So many numbers! Haha thanks for the lesson on film coding guys 😀

 

[David Goldfarb]

Sheet film sold in inches is actually slightly smaller on each side than the nominal size. If you try to cut 8x10" film into quarters, you'll get four sheets about 1/32" larger on each dimension than nominally 4x5" film that won't fit 4x5" filmholders. The original glass plates were the actual size, but then metal sheaths were used to adapt plateholders for film. The film had to be slightly smaller to make room for the metal sheaths, and the sizes have remained that way.

 

[shadowfox]

What are the 4x5 films...

Something that you have 50% of chance to be addicted to... be afraid, be wery afraid...

 

[wintoid]

Thanks for the info!

 

[Matthew Allen]

120 film is 6cm x 6cm (right?)

Or 6x4.5, 6x7... Different cameras use 120 differently.

Matthew

 

[35mmdelux]

is this a trick question?

 

[35mmdelux]

Oh ok now I get it...Thanks for the info guys!

What is 8 x 10 film? Now, this, is a hard question !

 

[crawdiddy]

And they insist on calling 4x5, 5x4 in the UK! 🙂

Probably for the same reason they drive on the wrong side of the road.

 

[dimitriroleda]

is this a trick question?

Uhhhh...no.

I didn't know what 4x5's were for, and now I do.

Thanks for your "help".

What is 8 x 10 film? Now, this, is a hard question !

Oh really? I think it was well explained by the helpful people around here.