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I want to print inherited negatives and plates

sruddy

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Aug 31, 2018
Messages
341
Location
CA
Format
Multi Format
I just brought home lots of negatives and a few glass plates. They were my fathers who was a photographer for the USN during WWII. I have an Omega D2xl enlarger and have been making contact prints however I don't have any carriers for at least one of the negatives. Here are my guesses for the carriers. I have no idea what the film size was actually called but would like to know and what cameras used that size.
  1. 3 3/16" x 2 3/16" or 8.2cm x 5.6cm (I'm assuming these take Omega 423-361 21/4x31/4 or 6cm x 9cm carriers which I have)
  2. 4 3/8" x 3 3/16" or 11cm x 8.1cm (Don't have but think it will be Omega 423-315 3¼"x4¼" sheet film, maybe hard to find)
  3. 4 11/16" x 3 5/8" or 11.9cm x 9.2cm (Looks like my Omega 423-363 4x5 carrier works for these.)
  4. 9 x 12cm Plate (Have no idea how to work with these)
Here are a few of the old plates, I assume they cant be cleaned??





 
A glass 4x5 carrier would work for any of them, you could possibly cover the open areas with opaque paper to cut lens flare. You might be able to gently clean a dirty neg with a photo flo solution but I would be very cautious about even attempting it, a lot of these old emulsions were very delicate.
 
For the film negs you can use 2 pieces of 4ply Matt board and make your own negative carriers. Use one of your existing carriers as a template. I went through my last 2 years of school with a homemade 35mm and a 4x5 for my D2, they worked great. Do one for the glass negs the same way. Make a 2-piece sandwich where the lower opening is small enough to provide a lip for the glass plate to rest on. Cut the top one to fit over the plate and rest on the lower one. Closing the lamp house down to make an exposure should give you the stability needed.
 
My strategy would be to scan the negs at high-res before attempting to physically clean them. You can then restore them electronically.

What a wonderful collection of images; enjoy.
 
All this advice is good. Having worked extensively with making prints from plates both old and new: only clean the glass side, don’t touch the emulsion side. Use windex and a lint-free cloth (kimwipes 3-ply, you can get them on amazon). DIY Cardboard holders work great.

Regards,
Jason
 
Wow very interesting. I work for the British navy, my grandfather served during WW2. It looks like your first example plate is of French ships flying the Tricoleur (a bit tricky to tell in negative and with orthochromatic film). The second plate shows some kind of celebration or party (possibly liberation!). There is an officer on the right and women having a good time on board. Important images that I would love to see. By all means print but I'd also suggest scanning at high res so that these can be digitally re-touched. I hate to suggest this but there is no practical way of repairing the damage other than this and I do think these merit sharing with a wide audience. You may be able to identify the ships from their numbers (if visible).
 

Thanks for the info and advice. I’ll make contact prints and also copy with my DSLR so I can clean them up. I’ll get back to you when I get something uploaded. I’m anxious to hear anything you can tell me about them.
 
The glass plates were spoiled at the time of exposure by debris on the film surface. I'd contact print those and see how they look. Projection printing them will pose potential hazard to their integrity unless you have projection printed glass plates in the past.
 
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