Bertha: a gigantic camera taking the largest photo ever

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Her name is Bertha and she will be the star of the largest photo ever made. A gigantic camera born from a desire to discover what photography can reveal when it is pushed beyond certain limits.

From the first moment Branco Ottico began experimenting with photography, he felt that the possibilities were endless: past and present can merge, as can old and new technologies, and historical knowledge can find contemporary interpretations.

This camera, with a sensitive area of 1.1 x 1.1 metres (3.6 x 3.6 feet), a bellows depth of around 4 metres (13.1 feet) and a 1000 mm f / 6.3 lens, can take portraits in macro mode.

In fact, the magnification ratio reaches 3:1 at the maximum bellows extension, meaning that subjects can be photographed at a final size up to three times larger than life.

Branco Ottico studied this measurement to achieve a close-up that could fill a sensitive area of more than one square metre!

The first tests turned out to be a surprise. He discovered that at the maximum bellows extension, the depth of field with the aperture fully stopped down is around 4 cm, a real challenge when managing such a photo shoot.

Bertha was almost entirely designed and built by the Branco Ottico crew, except for the ground glass and film holder section, for which they relied on a professional aluminium frame maker.

The entire frame supporting the large camera is modular and made entirely of heavy metal to support movement without losing stability. It was designed by Branco Ottico crew member Donato Rizzo, an expert in mechanical processing.

The main idea is to use the gigantic camera to create unique works with the chemical process they developed, the ROBA APPOSTA inversion kit, which can invert all photographic paper and black-and-white film to positive.

For the shots, they use both photographic paper and film on rolls one metre wide. For development, they have a mobile darkroom that they use when photographing outdoor portraits, live performances and photographic events.

They want to schedule the shoot of a photograph larger than one square metre during the first months of 2020. After that, they will tour with Bertha and their mobile darkroom to photograph subjects 'on the way' directly onto photographic paper.

Source: PetaPixel

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