Old photo plates; are they of any use?

[htmlguru4242]

Lately on EBay, there have been a BUNCH of really old photographic plates going on ebay in sealed boxes for a few dollars. It seems at first that these would be fun to play around with, but is there ANY likeliness that a decent image could be made on these ancient plates?

 

[Nick Zentena]

Couldn't you recoast them?

 

[Ole]

I certainly hope they're usable - I've got a nice little stack of 4x5", 6.5x9cm and 13x18cm plates from England and Germany.

If they're not usable recoating might be a possibility - the new Slavich glass plates are too thick to use in the Linhof Universal Cut Film and Plate holders ("mit Auswerfer").

 

[DBP]

Will the Slavich plates fit the old Fotokor holders (based on the Voigtlander Avus design)?

 

[Ole]

Yes, they fit the metal holders (althoug getting the "top clip" to seat properly can sometimes be difficult). It's only in the narrow-slot push-in Linhof holders that they cause problems.

 

[htmlguru4242]

True, I didn't think of re-coating them; that's a good idea. That would work nicely ... and you wouldn't have to worry about subbing ...