6x17 Medium Format Film Photography

6×17 Medium Format Film Photography

Expansive Vision | Cinematic Scale | Immersive Detail

The Art of 6×17 Panoramic Film

Craig Fouché Photography creates 6×17 panoramic photographs using both the Fuji GX617 Professional and K.B. Canham panoramic systems, producing immersive analogue landscapes that celebrate scale, light and the extraordinary beauty of Southern Africa. The 6×17 panoramic format opens a new dimension in photographic storytelling — one that captures vast horizons, layered skies, and sweeping terrains in a single, immersive frame. With a cinematic aspect ratio of approximately 3:1, these images draw the viewer deep into the landscape, inviting them to experience the rhythm of space and silence that defines the art of panoramic vision.

Every frame in this format demands precision: composition, light, and timing must align within a fraction of a degree. The result is a rare harmony between art and engineering — a photographic language that celebrates proportion, geometry, and grandeur.

The Tools Behind the Vision

At Craig Fouché Photography, two distinct 6×17 systems are employed to craft this panoramic collection — each chosen for its technical integrity and expressive potential.

Fuji GX617 Professional
A dedicated 6×17 panoramic camera, the Fuji GX617 is renowned for its optical excellence and mechanical precision. Designed specifically for panoramic photography, it offers a seamless workflow in the field with four exposures per 120 roll of film. Its expansive frame, combined with Fujinon large-format lenses, produces impeccable sharpness, tonal range, and a depth that remains unmatched in the medium format world. My journey into 6×17 photography owes much to my dear friend Koos van den Lende. The Fuji GX617 system I use today was once his, making every photograph a continuation of that shared appreciation for panoramic film photography.

K.B. Canham 6×17 Roll Film Back
This motorised roll film back transforms an 8×10 or 5×7 large format field camera into a panoramic medium format system. Precision-engineered from 6061 T6 aluminium, the K.B. Canham back offers movements unavailable on dedicated 6×17 cameras, allowing for refined control of perspective and focus plane. Operated by a 9-volt power system with intelligent memory and battery safeguards, it merges the tactile purity of analogue craftsmanship with modern functionality. Over 30 rolls of film can be shot on a single battery, ensuring reliability even in remote environments.

This combination — a medium format panoramic back mounted to a large format camera — allows for greater creative control, marrying the flexibility of large format movements with the efficiency and film economy of roll film.

Crafting the 6×17 Collection

The 6×17 Panoramic Collection celebrates a world seen in breadth and detail. Each image is an immersive journey through South African and Southern African landscapes — from the arid vastness of the Northern Cape to coastal horizons and mountain ranges steeped in silence.

Captured entirely on film, every photograph is developed, scanned, and printed using archival processes to ensure fidelity to the original negative and the timeless character of the medium. These are not merely landscapes; they are contemplations of space — studies in scale, stillness, and light.

A Cinematic Way of Seeing

The 6×17 frame transforms the familiar into the monumental. Where traditional compositions may conclude, this panoramic format continues — stretching the boundaries of perception and revealing the world as a continuous visual symphony.

Each image is a meditation in proportion, balance, and atmosphere. Whether presented in colour or monochrome, the 6×17 works embody the essence of Craig Fouché Photography: the pursuit of excellence, the reverence for place, and the enduring beauty of the analogue process with my own style.

Seeing Beyond the Horizon

The 6×17 format changed the way I experience the landscape. Instead of searching for a single subject, I began looking for relationships across an entire scene—the quiet conversation between distant mountains, open skies, changing light and the spaces in between. It taught me that the most powerful photographs often come not from adding more to the frame, but from allowing the landscape room to breathe.

Whether working with the Fuji GX617 or a K.B. Canham panoramic back mounted on a field camera, every exposure reminds me why analogue photography continues to inspire me. Four carefully considered frames on a roll of film are often enough. When each composition is approached with patience and purpose, those few negatives can hold an entire journey.

Explore the Collection

Discover the 6×17 Panoramic Collection — a curated body of work that invites viewers and collectors alike to experience the grandeur of Africa’s landscapes through the expansive lens of medium format film.

Film is not a relic. It’s a living medium — and in a world of automation and artificiality, it stands as a quiet rebellion.

Film is still very much alive. And so is the craft.

View My Fine Art Film Collection