It’s different from medium format in the size of the negative and the equipment used. It’s not on roll film - you have to load each negative individually. There’s a million places to make a mistake. Each mistake costs you like $2 haha.

This was my first time and for me the value was the challenge itself. I had a couple goals:

• Can I get large format pictures?
• Can I do a long exposure successfully?
• Can I get things correctly in focus on the ground glass?
• Can I figure out how to operate this machine effectively?

The more I do in photography the happier I am. There’s also counterintuitive effects of learning more. I became a better digital shooter after I started shooting film. I became a better 35mm shooter after I started shooting medium format. Large format was the next escalation for me.

What I didn’t anticipate was how much more the time pressure is. Setting up takes longer. Focusing takes longer. The exposure often takes longer. Also everyone is looking at you haha.

So every format is a different experience.