Can you afford square photographs?

[Eddie Vaughan]

A big problem with square negatives, such as those the Rolleiflex produces, is that it is expensive to print the whole negative because you invariably waste some of the printing paper you have paid for. I do not know of any photographic paper manufacturers that produce square- shaped paper -- they produce only rectangular- shaped paper. I mostly buy and use 8 X 10 inch paper, which means that I can print at most an 8 X 8 inch square photograph if I want to use the whole negative. If I use a larger size paper in order to print a larger square photograph, then there will be a similar or greater waste of paper. Photographic paper is expensive, so I usually crop about seventy per cent of images in order to reduce this waste. This is frustrating. I would like to print more square photographs but cannot afford to print more.

Is there a solution I have overlooked? What do other Rolleiflex users do?

Eddie Vaughan

[DPurdy]

You must be talking about digital prints. Printing a 7x7 inch print on an 8x10 piece of paper gives a very nice size border top and bottom and the cost isn't significant for those two inches. I make darkroom prints so I can easily adjust my easel and cut my paper before printing. I can see with ink jet printing that the paper waste would be annoying. But cropping the image would be even more annoying in my opinion.
Dennis

[Eddie Vaughan]

No Dennis, I am talking about darkroom paper.

Darkroom paper is very expensive in Australia. The cheapest price I can find in Australia for 100 sheets of Ilford 8 X 10 inch darkroom paper is AUD138 -- which amounts to about USD131 on the current exchange rate. That price does not include postage, so the total cost would be close to AUD150. I am sure you pay a lot less for the same paper. I see, for example, that Amazon is presently selling 100 sheets of the same paper for USD72, with the offer of free postage. Unfortunately, the offer does not extend beyond the U.S. The cost of posting photographic paper from the U.S. to Australia is quite prohibitive.

I will need to trim a minimum of two inches from a sheet of 8 X 10 inch paper if I choose to print the whole of a square negative. Admittedly, I can use some of the cut-offs as test strips, but most will be wasted. The cost of this waste is not at all significant if you print the whole of every square negative. I regularly scan eBay sales for darkroom paper (often old paper) being sold off by people who have switched completely to digital processing, and sometimes get a few bargains. However, my bargain buys of old darkroom paper still probably cost more that the price you are paying for brand new paper. I can't complain; them's the breaks. However, bearing in mind the price I have paid for paper, I don't want to waste any more than is necessary. Consequently, I print few square photographs. You do the same, I recall, Dennis, but for a different reason.


Eddie Vaughan

[DPurdy]

Yes that is definitely expensive. Can you get the Oriental papers from Japan more cheaply? They are just as good as Ilford to me.
The idea of square paper wouldn't appeal to me because I like rectangles better. I also like a good border around my prints so that would make a square paper just as wasteful or even more so. If you are matting all your work then the border is a waste, but matting prints is very expensive as well.
I stocked up on both paper and film just before the big explosion in prices. I paid about half what people pay now... though I also pay to keep the freezer running. I have a large supply of 11x14 paper frozen though it isn't a size I use much. In using it I have cut it down in size to 4 sheets of 5.5" by 7. Then I can make square 5 inch prints with a bit of a border. A bit smaller than I like but the vast majority of my photography ends in a box on a pile of boxes.

[Eddie Vaughan]

I have tried Oriental and liked it, Dennis, but can only buy it from the U.S. At the moment, one hundred sheets of 8 X 10 inch RC Oriental paper would cost me AUD 151.33 (USD 143.38), including postage of AUD 58.60, so it is out of the question. Fomaspeed paper is available in Australia, although not widely, but it costs only slightly less than Ilford paper, at AUD 132 for one hundred 8 X 10.

Australia is possibly the most expensive country in the world for darkroom photography. Everything is imported. Australia is a long way from anywhere (sometimes an advantage!) and also represents a small and declining market for traditional darkroom photography products. Consequently, there are few suppliers and very little price competition, so buyers hope to find bargains on eBay.

I do not want this to sound like a long wail of complaint. I was initially making a point about a limitation of square format cameras, such as Rolleiflex. Enlarging papers are rectangular. I choose to print about three times as many rectangular photographs as square for cost reasons, so I seldom get to see the full square photographs I have taken with my Rollei cameras. I agree with what you say, though, about 7 X 7 inch prints on 8 X 10 inch paper leaving nice borders.

I am curious to know if other Rolleiflex prefer square prints above rectangular, or vice versa.

Eddie Vaughan