A Full Frame Digital Camera With The Form Factor Of An IPad?

A poor digital scan from an 1980 made inter-negative which was made from the original 4" X 5"

Ektachrome slide from 1975.  Today's digital is SO much better!

(Sorry for the delay in publishing this.  I'm having a heck of a time with Blogger this morning.  There must be some technical issues.)

For a time back in the mid-1970s, I photographed exclusively with a 4" X 5" (or 5" X 4") large format camera.  I started with a Calumet Monorail camera, which wasn't very conducive to working outside of a studio, then transitioned to a Tachihara Field Camera, which is designed to be used in the outdoors.  

Calumet Monorail 4" X 5" camera

Tachihara (?) Field Camera (Cherrywood)

With either of these cameras, I carried three lenses mounted in lens boards.  I carried a 90mm f/8 wide angle lens, a 150mm f/5.6 normal lens and a 300mm short tele-photo lens.  In 35mm terms, approximately a 28mm lens, a 50mm lens and a 100mm lens.  

Of course, I carried about 10 film holders, a square filter holder and several filters such as yellow, orange, red and green.  I mainly photographed in black and white but did some occasional color work.

4" X 5" Film holders.  Two sheets per holder

Then there was the required spot meter for measuring the brightest and darkest part of the scene in order to gauge exposure (and later development) so all tones could be placed in the correct Zones (I was a disciple of the famous Zone System).  

Finally, a weighted cloth to place over my head when composing my image was required. Mine was double layer with black on the inside and white on the outside, so as to reflect sunlight and stay cooler (theoretically).  

All this on top of quite a large and very heavy tripod. I don't remember having access to carbon fiber tripods in the mid-1970s and, if they were available, they would have been way out of my price range.  My camera bag was the size of a large gym bag to fit everything in.

This large format excursion did not last long for me as taking all of this gear with me was really heavy, quite bulky, a bit unmanageable and somewhat frustrating.  The benefit was that piece of 4" X 5" film with its exquisite detail, long tonal range as well as the ability to look through that huge ground glass to view and compose my subject.  That was then.  This is now.  How can we digitally accomplish the same thing while reducing weight, bulk and cost?

In this digital day and age, there is no reason why we would need to carry a system such as described unless we wanted to.  The large format film process got me thinking that wouldn't it be very cool to build the capabilities of this large format film system into an electronic device such as one with an iPad form factor?  Lightweight, large viewing screen, electronic controls.  I thought about this after seeing individuals out using an iPad to make images.  Not an iPhone, but an iPad.  I first saw this in 2012 in Yellowstone National Park and have observed it several times since during my travels.

Imagine a device with an iPad-like form factor and what an iPhone or iPad can now do photographically, then increase the capabilities 500%.  This iPad-like sophisticated camera could be equipped with a 50mp full frame sensor (a nice compromise between high quality/resolution and cost), with either interchangeable lenses or a high quality moderate focal lengths zoom lens, two SDXC card slots, have the ability to clamp on either the bottom or side an Arca-Swiss style base for attaching to a tripod or a common 1/4" X 20 tripod bolt hole.  It would have all of the electronic controls now provided by some of the best camera apps available today, if not more.  The case, of course, would have to be sturdier than a current iPad as one would be attaching it, detaching it, moving it around while clamped on a tripod, etc.  But strength could easily be engineered into it.

This would not be a walk-around camera but a modern day version of the old field camera.  The 8" to 10" LCD would take the place of the ground glass, be relatively tall and flat and weigh very little as compared to what I described above but have the capabilities of the most sophisticated digital cameras today.

There would be icons and pop up menus with touch controls for file type (RAW, RAW + JPEG, JPEG) shutter speed, aperture, time delay, manual focus, touch to focus, touch to focus and expose, exposure bracketing, focus bracketing, electronic neutral density as well as color filters (for black and white), white balance, and film simulations, both color and black and white, wireless connections, both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, etc.  I won't try to name every type of feature but the camera could do everything you can now do on your DSLR or mirrorless camera and do it simply and electronically.

I won't drone on but you get my idea here.  Nice to dream.  Maybe someday.  Would be an interesting experiment.  Nothing new would need to be invented as all the pieces are out there now.

Would you buy something like this if you are a landscape, food, portrait, fashion, etc. photographer?

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!

Dennis A. Mook

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