Besides the large plates, I think you're reacting to the focus as well. We've gotten very used to our small lenses and their infinite depth of field that keeps

Besides the large plates, I think you're reacting to the focus as well. We've gotten very used to our small lenses and their infinite depth of field that keeps everything focused. We're so used to it that now it's a feature to have a smartphone camera that can blur the background. But those old cameras did that automatically, because they were only capable of a narrow depth of field and the photographer had to be really careful about where the focus was when he composed the shot.