Peta Pixel: Dry Glass Plate Photography is Back!

Agulliver · May 2, 2018

One pack of your plates hopefully landed safely about two hours ago in London.....my wife successfully picked them up from her sister's in Boise. Looking forward to trying these in the summer here in England.

Nodda Duma · May 2, 2018

That’s great to hear! Good luck!

-Jason

peter k. · May 2, 2018

Couple of questions...
Have 7 or 8 of these 9x12 film holders, There is a flat spring plate that presses against the surrounding 'film' gate that holds it flat.
Will these also take the Dry Plates?

Post #12 took care of the storage end of things... but what is the procedure with a 'bad' exposure?
Can the glass plates be 'cleaned' and re-coated?
Or do you just dispose of them?
Thanks.. p.

Nodda Duma · May 2, 2018

From what I can see of the pics, it looks like they will.

Yeah, bad exposures can be cleaned off and the glass reused. I did that A LOT when I first got started. Reuse > throwing away.

-Jason

peter k. · May 2, 2018

Would you want them back for reuse then?

Nodda Duma said:
Yeah, bad exposures can be cleaned off and the glass reused. I did that A LOT when I first got started. Reuse > throwing away.

Nodda Duma · May 2, 2018

I would say keep them for if you want to try coating plates yourself.

peter k. · May 2, 2018

Hmmm doubt that, but hate to see them go to waste.. time will tell how many bad shots we get... haah ah ha

Theo Sulphate · May 3, 2018

This sounds like fun - and I love slow emulsions and the spectral sensitivity of the wet and dry plate emulsions of the past.

So, a dumb question: for 4x5, where can I get holders for the plates?

Nodda Duma · May 3, 2018

Great question Theo, and one asked often.

I’ve laid the egg, now we need chickens. In the meantime, search ebay for “4x5 plate holder” - no quotes - and use your best judgement to choose from the listings. Just pay attention to the position of the stop rib.

dwross · May 3, 2018

I know I continue to interject myself into a conversation circle where I'm not particularly welcome, but I promise this is the last time. Plate holders are the last thing that should stand in the way of using dry plates. Old wood film holders convert easily. http://www.thelightfarm.com/Map/DryPlate/PlateHolders/DryPlatePart6.htm

Nodda Duma · May 3, 2018

Denise, as far as I’m concerned you’re always welcome in on this type of conversation. Thanks for the tip.

-Jason

Photo Engineer · May 3, 2018

Mark Osterman has devised a very elegant way of converting film holders to plate holders. Try a query to him.

If you search "4x5 plate holders" you can come up with a lot of antique ceramic plate holders....

PE

ciniframe · May 3, 2018

Sorry to drag this thread in another direction but....well you know.
All this talk about ISO speeds has made me wonder if it is possible to make a faster photo paper especially formulated to use as paper negatives. Perhaps not so high contrast. And, to have this paper still be safe for regular red safelight. Safelight such as supplied by one of those 11w red Brightlab bulbs you can buy from B&H and other photo retailers. Of course, if the paper doesn't see red then I suppose getting a full grayscale on the negative could still be at cross purposes to what I'm asking for.

I don't think the paper would have to be really fast, even ISO 25~50 would make life much easier for paper negative shooters, if that is, it could still be made safelight safe.

Theo Sulphate · May 3, 2018

Another question: is the sensitivity basically to only blue and UV (maybe 500nm and shorter)? If so, that's exactly what I'd like.

I assume blue+UV would exaggerate haze for distant landscapes, right?

If I could produce anything remotely close to what I've seen so far, I'd be flying through the air.

Nodda Duma · May 3, 2018

Theo Sulphate said:
Another question: is the sensitivity basically to only blue and UV (maybe 500nm and shorter)? If so, that's exactly what I'd like.

I assume blue+UV would exaggerate haze for distant landscapes, right?

If I could produce anything remotely close to what I've seen so far, I'd be flying through the air.

Yes. “Normal” sensitivity is what they called uv and blue only response.

Photo Engineer · May 3, 2018

Yes, it is possible. There is no barrier to speeds up to 25 ISO.

PE

Agulliver · May 8, 2018

Nodda Duma said:
That’s great to hear! Good luck!

-Jason

Yep just to confirm the plates made it to the UK safely. I'm not sure when I'll get out and about with the camera as the rangefinder needs repairing. Usable without but I'd rather fix it.

For those who haven't seen my other posts on the subject elsewhere, I am reviving a quarter plate camera made by my dad circa 1958 and until 2018 unused since about 1962. It's a bit of a Frankenstein's camera with a 1930s lens and electronics to fire the shutter and for a home made Graflex style flash. I've successfully shot a couple of vintage Ilford plates as proof of concept...the camera works with no leaks. Now really looking forward to trying Jason's plates with their unusual (for today) spectral sensitivity.

Helge · Dec 29, 2018

ciniframe said:
Sorry to drag this thread in another direction but....well you know.
All this talk about ISO speeds has made me wonder if it is possible to make a faster photo paper especially formulated to use as paper negatives. Perhaps not so high contrast. And, to have this paper still be safe for regular red safelight. Safelight such as supplied by one of those 11w red Brightlab bulbs you can buy from B&H and other photo retailers. Of course, if the paper doesn't see red then I suppose getting a full grayscale on the negative could still be at cross purposes to what I'm asking for.

I don't think the paper would have to be really fast, even ISO 25~50 would make life much easier for paper negative shooters, if that is, it could still be made safelight safe.

Pre flashing the paper comes to mind as an obvious option. It will help a lot with “waking it up” so it will react sooner. Especially helping shadows.
Latensification is also a possibility. That is, post exposing the paper to very faint, often green light. Using reciprocity failure to get the faintly exposed shadows that extra kick, while not touching much else because it is either already plenty exposed or was meant to stay blank.

Some have also experimented with hypering paper with water (could be problematic due to developing agents in most papers), forming gas, peroxide or ammonia.

As Photo Engineer says you’ll probably not get much over the equivalent of ISO 50 though, even with the most valiant effort.

Nokton48 · Dec 30, 2018

Jason and others asked: Who makes Universal holders for glass dry plates?

2016-01-16 13.07.45 by Nokton48, on Flickr

I have some of these Linhof ones, they are great. Will work for film or dry plates. They are double sided, so two dry plates per holder. Built to Linhof quality standards. These are sized: 6.5x9cm, and 2.25"x3.25". I also have quite a few in 4x5" and 9x12cm.

4x5 Glass Plate Negative Sleeves and Storage Box by Nokton48, on Flickr

I store glass negs in these archival glass plate storage boxes. This one holds up to 4x5.

www.gaylord.com

Peta Pixel: Dry Glass Plate Photography is Back!

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