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exposing existing negatives onto dry plates

r u t h

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hello all,

i am planning on getting into dry plates this summer with my 4x5 camera. i have a basic understanding of the materials and techniques, but i was curious if it is possible (or advisable) to expose a film negative onto a dry plate and display it as a positive. i am working on a project where i display backlit medium and large format positives and thought that this could be a cool addition to that.

thank you!
 

Vaughn

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Sounds like a plan. Contact print onto the plate, or enlarge?
 

Donald Qualls

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Should work fine, pending the dry plates having a similar Dmax to what we're used to as film. Film positives displayed on a light panel can be very nice. Harder to dodge and burn in an exposure that might run a couple seconds under the dimmest enlarger light, but if you have a negative that produces a nice straight print it should work. Might be expensive to get to the right development to give the contrast you want, though. Probably easier/cheaper to just intentionally overshoot and then bleach back with Farmer's Reducer.