Nadar's plate camera. A museum piece or just another restoration project?

Cesaraugusta said:

Here is a picture of one of the three holders. Since the slats are not affixed to the cloth backing you can see how it is configured. I separated the slats to add drama to the scene.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4084/5019470996_cc7133036f_b.jpg

Here's one of the negative holder frames. It still contains a paper negative that appears to have been installed wet.
Patented May '85. It is perfect for holding a sheet that is 4x5 inches in size.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4084/5018866873_02212950fb_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4152/5019472116_e922f9101b_b.jpg

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Nice, this explains it all about the "hinge" in the slide. Curious though, yours clearly has a multi-faceted hinge. I expected just one "hinge"...

Could this feature potentially have to do with accommodating different plate / negative sizes and / or different types of cameras? :confused:

With a multi-faceted hinge, I could potentially foresee an issue with shoving it back in the holder... might not always be so easy.

Also interesting the picture of the paper negative in the metal frame. Although the text about holders is quite thorough, one clear omission, is showing such a metal frame for holding the paper negatives, even though they are mentioned in the text.

Film-Advance Indicators
Click
Typically a measuring roller would turn as the film was advanced, a pin on the roller lifted and then let drop a spring - making a click sound (fig. B44). Later models of the Warnerke holder used an electric bell triggered by holes in the paper.

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Would have loved to hear this one in operation!

The descriptions of various pre-Grafmatic backs is very interesting, and that actually gives me an idea for Dann.

It's possible that the septums from an old Grafmatic back might be good for film inserts in the Sands, Hunter plate holders, they are very similar to the 9x12 sheaths.

Ian

Ian Grant said:

I posted the whole page, the top camera was the Acme a field camera

You can have higher resolution images from the other adverts if you want them, they are all quite different angles and higher quality than the 1928 image. The 1939 image show a camera tripod mounted, with it attached via two tripod sockets.

BTW the APUG member who sold the 15x12 then had his second for sale, did you buy the first from the UK ?

Ian

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Yes, I bought it from the UK. I would have liked to buy the fully restored camera, but it was NOT in my budget at the time.

TheFlyingCamera said:

Yes, I bought it from the UK. I would have liked to buy the fully restored camera, but it was NOT in my budget at the time.

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The 2nd 15x12 Watson is an enormous camera, obviously yours is exactly the same

What an amazing camera to own, you're very lucky. At least the square bellows it takes are the easiest of all to make.

This thread's got me champing at the bit, I've just held back twice from buying two Lizars Plate cameras. I already have two great 10x8 Agfa Ansco's but US camera's don't have the finesse & elegance of vintage British LF cameras.

I'm also getting an itch to start making emulsions again:wizard: I've seen Ilford's glass plate coating line in action, on the last factory tour, so perhaps it's time to put 10 years of commercial emulsion making experience to use again.

What got me motivated was discovering that emulsions were sold are dry powder form, add water then melt and coat.

We can't make a cascade head so we need to look else where, it's all out there though and in detail.

Ian

Ian Grant said:

This thread's got me champing at the bit, I've just held back twice from buying two Lizars Plate cameras. I already have two great 10x8 Agfa Ansco's but US camera's don't have the finesse & elegance of vintage British LF cameras.

Click to expand...

This thread's got me getting my Watson Acme out on a Friday evening so I can caress it and admire the tiny hand-cut dovetails. It really is a lovely thing.