7x17 Ultra Large Format Film Photography

7×17 Ultra Large Format Film Photography

Precision | Patience | Panoramic Mastery

Banquet Scale Panoramic Film

Craig Fouché Photography uses the 7×17 format to create panoramic photographs that celebrate the scale of Southern Africa through one of the rarest and most demanding analogue processes still practised today. The 7×17 inch format, often known as a banquet camera, occupies a rare place in the world of analogue photography. With its elongated panoramic ratio—similar to 4×10 yet more commanding in scale—it bridges precision engineering with the purest form of visual storytelling. This is the point where large format meets cinematic immersion, demanding skill, preparation, and patience in equal measure.

A Format That Commands Respect

The 7×17 is not a camera for convenience; it’s a camera for commitment. Every frame requires forethought—from film loading to composition, from exposure calculation to chemical development. Each sheet is a unique, hand-crafted photograph, measured in both time and discipline.

Colour film for this format is rarely available, often requiring special minimum orders directly from Kodak. As a result, my 7×17 work is exclusively captured on black and white film—typically Ilford FP4, HP5, or Delta 100—each chosen for its tonal depth and adaptability in South Africa’s variable light.

The Challenge and the Craft

Working in 7×17 means engaging with challenges few photographers ever attempt. Film is costly and scarce; development must be handled with precision and care. Archiving, scanning, and printing require specialist techniques, often performed entirely by hand. Yet this is exactly what makes the format so rewarding: the result is an image of extraordinary clarity, scale, and presence—something that simply cannot be replicated digitally.

Every exposure is a commitment. Every print is a testament to the craft of large format photography, where composition, focus, and timing must align perfectly in a single frame.

The Panoramic Experience

The elongated proportions of 7×17 create a cinematic tension between width and stillness—perfect for expansive landscapes, coastal horizons, and sweeping mountain ranges. The viewer’s eye moves across the frame as though reading a story, discovering layers of light, tone, and texture.

This format represents my entry point into the world of Ultra Large Format (ULF) photography—a bridge between traditional panoramic work and the monumental scale of 8×20.

A Living Discipline

In an age of instant results and artificial imagery, working with 7×17 remains a deliberate act of resistance. It’s photography in its most elemental form: light, glass, film, and craft. Each image is made—not manufactured—and carries the unmistakable signature of time, process, and place.

These photographs are captured across South Africa, with an ongoing goal to explore the broader Southern African landscape in both landscape and portrait orientation, celebrating the vastness and intimacy this remarkable format makes possible.

Completing the Journey

Working with 7×17 reminds me why I first picked up a camera all those years ago. Not to make more photographs, but to make better ones. The sheer scale of the negative demands complete commitment. Every decision matters, from selecting the location and waiting for the light to composing beneath the dark cloth and exposing a single sheet of film. Nothing can be hurried, and nothing can be taken for granted.

Looking back, each format I’ve worked with has taught me something different. Thirty‑five millimetre taught me curiosity. Medium format refined the way I see. Large format taught me patience. The 7×17 format brings those lessons together. It asks me to trust experience, to simplify my vision, and to remember that the greatest reward in photography has never been speed—it has always been the quiet satisfaction of creating one meaningful photograph.

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.

Explore the Collection

Discover the 7×17 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