Modern(ish) Lenses and Wet Plate

[Eric in Vegas]

I'm new to wet plate and have had reasonable success with an old wooden view camera and brass lens. I'd like to try it with my Graflex Crown Graphic 23 with Optar 101mm lens. I have a film pack adapter to modify for plates. My main question is in regards to the lens. Any reason it wouldn't work for wet plate...UV transmission or anything like that? Any other possible concerns? Thanks, Eric

 

[koraks]

Nope. Modern lenses work fine with wet plate. Most people who prefer old lenses for wet plate do so for the optical imperfections, such as the typical Petzval 'swirley bokeh'. And of course some just want to stay true to the period by using equipment from the 19th century with the 19th-century photographic process.

The main objective benefit from these older brass lenses is that they're sometimes slightly faster than modern lenses. For instance, on 4x5, a typical standard lens will be something like a 135-150mm f/5.6, while a brass projection lens will often be f/4-ish. As you've realized by now on your wet plate adventure, the extra stop helps. So the preference with wet plate goes to a fast lens, but in principle, it doesn't matter if it's a modern fast lens or an old one.

 

[Eric in Vegas]

Nope. Modern lenses work fine with wet plate. Most people who prefer old lenses for wet plate do so for the optical imperfections, such as the typical Petzval 'swirley bokeh'. And of course some just want to stay true to the period by using equipment from the 19th century with the 19th-century photographic process.

The main objective benefit from these older brass lenses is that they're sometimes slightly faster than modern lenses. For instance, on 4x5, a typical standard lens will be something like a 135-150mm f/5.6, while a brass projection lens will often be f/4-ish. As you've realized by now on your wet plate adventure, the extra stop helps. So the preference with wet plate goes to a fast lens, but in principle, it doesn't matter if it's a modern fast lens or an old one.

Thanks for the info as always. My brass lens only stops down to f/16 which I still find OK for the "sunny 16" conditions in Las Vegas I've been shooting in. My Optar stops down to f/4.5 and has a shutter of course which should provide some additional flexibility.

In regards to a brass projection lens...I assume you are referring to the old projector lenses with no way to adjust aperture? Do these all tend to be f/4ish? I'm not sure of the focal length of my current brass lens but it is slow and on the wide end...not ideal for portraits. I wouldn't mind finding a reasonably priced portrait lens.

 

[koraks]

I'm no expert on these old lenses, but many of them that I've seen indeed turned out to be between f/3.5 and f/5 or so. Of course the longer focal lengths for larger sizes tend to be a little slower, although there are some pretty big pieces of glass out there.

F/16 sounds very slow for wet plate; I don't think I shot many plates under natural light at such a small aperture. With strobes, yes and then multiple pops per exposure, so not for portraiture.

 

[Two23]

I've been doing wet plate 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10 for over four years now. Any lens will work of course, but one of the main reasons I got into wet plate was to use early (1840-1880) lenses. That's half the "look" of wet plate. I do sometimes use interesting lenses from c.1900 such as the Heliar and Verito. If you are planning on doing wet plate indoors you will need a very, very fast lens and a lot of flash power. This is where a fast (<f5.6) lens is nice to have. As for projection Petzvals, they do work of course. You can stop them down by making washer stops to place over the front element.

Kent in SD

 

[awty]

You need all the lenses, old and new