Hi all,
I have just recently stepped up my wet plate game and am working on the beginnings of a project which will be entirely based on images made on wet plates.
I will be using my trusty Sinar P, with a plethora of portraiture lenses and my Speedotron Lighting setup which can produce close to 12,000ws of power output.
For my intial tests to date, I have been using a rudimentary MPP 4x5 converted back with a metalic insert which holds the plate in place. This holder is less than ideal. The way the insert holds the plate it leaves so much unexposed space on the plate, in less than desired places; its a dire waste and aesthetically ugly.
So I’ve been looking at investing in a high quality plate holder, for both tin and glass plates, with plexiglass corners so the whole plate gets exposure from the lens. Such as this holder here:
http://www.stenopeika.com/en/shop/wet-plate-holder-for-collodion-process/
What holders do others use for 4x5? Whats the opinion on the above holder?
My other issue with ordinary 4x5 holders is that when measuring the rear standard of my Sinar, the size of the opening (the film plane) measures less than 5 inches in height, and a little more than 4 inches wide. So how can you get a plate holder and plates to fit near enough perfectly so when making an exposure, the image is spread over the entire plate? Is the film plane in the rear standard the opening that should be measured and taken into consideration is having a plate holder made, and when ordering custom sized plates? I think I have probably over analysed this and got lost in my thinking, as 4x5 maybe the most popular of large format cameras, for collodion and otherwise, so any insight or knowledge any of you lovely people on this forum reading this can provide, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks all
Nathan
I have just recently stepped up my wet plate game and am working on the beginnings of a project which will be entirely based on images made on wet plates.
I will be using my trusty Sinar P, with a plethora of portraiture lenses and my Speedotron Lighting setup which can produce close to 12,000ws of power output.
For my intial tests to date, I have been using a rudimentary MPP 4x5 converted back with a metalic insert which holds the plate in place. This holder is less than ideal. The way the insert holds the plate it leaves so much unexposed space on the plate, in less than desired places; its a dire waste and aesthetically ugly.
So I’ve been looking at investing in a high quality plate holder, for both tin and glass plates, with plexiglass corners so the whole plate gets exposure from the lens. Such as this holder here:
http://www.stenopeika.com/en/shop/wet-plate-holder-for-collodion-process/
What holders do others use for 4x5? Whats the opinion on the above holder?
My other issue with ordinary 4x5 holders is that when measuring the rear standard of my Sinar, the size of the opening (the film plane) measures less than 5 inches in height, and a little more than 4 inches wide. So how can you get a plate holder and plates to fit near enough perfectly so when making an exposure, the image is spread over the entire plate? Is the film plane in the rear standard the opening that should be measured and taken into consideration is having a plate holder made, and when ordering custom sized plates? I think I have probably over analysed this and got lost in my thinking, as 4x5 maybe the most popular of large format cameras, for collodion and otherwise, so any insight or knowledge any of you lovely people on this forum reading this can provide, it would be much appreciated.
Thanks all
Nathan
