Question about plate holders

[ElizabethRose]

I recently got a German "Bee-Bee" camera that came with these 3 holders. I've shot a lot of roll film but I am completely new to dry plates or sheet film, so please excuse my naivety.

Each holder had a frame (for lack of a better word) in it. The frame seems to be 3 1/4 x 4 1/4, while the holder itself seems to fit 9x12. As these are both common plate formats I am confused on wether these are 9x12 holders or 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 holders.

Is the frame a format adapter? Or a cut film adapter?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I plan to shoot Zebra plates and would like to order the proper size.

 

[awty]

The frame in the second photo is an adaptor for 9 x 12 plates, so you can use either.
You will need to find a sheet film adaptor of either size to use sheet film. (a thin sheet of metal with 3 folded edges to take film)
I usually just cut 4x5 film to suite.

 

[lobitar]

I recently got a German "Bee-Bee" camera that came with these 3 holders. I've shot a lot of roll film but I am completely new to dry plates or sheet film, so please excuse my naivety.

Each holder had a frame (for lack of a better word) in it. The frame seems to be 3 1/4 x 4 1/4, while the holder itself seems to fit 9x12. As these are both common plate formats I am confused on wether these are 9x12 holders or 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 holders.

Is the frame a format adapter? Or a cut film adapter?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I plan to shoot Zebra plates and would like to order the proper size.

If the frame (at right) fits into the 9x12 plate-holder (at left), then the frame is a format adapter for using 3-1/4 x 4 1/4 plates instead of 9x12 plates in the cassette (at left). You may also be able to use cut-film sheaths for 3-1/4 x 4 1/ 4 cut film in the frame shown (at right), if you can find one (would be a very hard find here in Europe). Incidentally you may experience, that the sheaths don't quite fit into the frame, as the sheath may be (or should be?) very slightly larger than the corresponding glass plate.

 

[ElizabethRose]

Thank you both very much for your insight.
I am going to order a box of 9x12 plates and see how things go.

 

[Romanko]

The inserts for the sheet film:

Negative insert (septum)9x12 cm > Szlachetna Fotografia

Negative insert (septum)9x12 cm Negative inserts are indispensable each time we want to use sheet film (as the ones made these days) in order to take pictures with the older type of photographic camera with film holders designed to take glass negtives. Th

www.alternativephotographicsupplies.com

Sheet film:

FOMA Fomapan 100 9x12 CM (3,55x4,72 INCH) / 50 Sheets - fotoimpex.com analogue photography

In the north-Bohemian town of Hradec Kralove Foma has been producing photo materials since 1921. The Fomapan 100 is a flexible, medium speed, general purpose BW film. It ...

www.fotoimpex.com

Use 9x12 sheet reels to develop your film in a standard Paterson tank (you can find them online or 3D-print your own using models from Thingiverse). The "taco method" works equally well.

The frame on the right photo is most likely a reducing adapter for quarter-size glass plates. I never saw one before. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

instead of ordering a box of 9x12 plates, it might be more practical and 'cheaper' to buy some metal film sheats (aka inserts or septums) and a box of sheetfilm. See f.i. page 12 of the pdf:

https://www.foma.cz/en/catalogue_bw_photo_materials_and_developing_information

 

[Jonathan-sv]

I'll confess that I didn't think you could buy plates anymore but I found the Zebra ones, and 35 euros for 10 didn't sound too bad. ISO 2 could be a challenge, though. Personally I would go with film.

 

[Donald Qualls]

If he ever gets back into production after his move, there are/were also J.Lane plates; one choice there is/was ISO 25 orthochromatic (as well as the slow, blue-sensitive plates similar to the Zebra product). The faster Ortho plates are very similar to what press photographers used with those plate cameras well into the 1920s.

 

[ElizabethRose]

instead of ordering a box of 9x12 plates, it might be more practical and 'cheaper' to buy some metal film sheats (aka inserts or septums) and a box of sheetfilm. See f.i. page 12 of the pdf:

https://www.foma.cz/en/catalogue_bw_photo_materials_and_developing_information

True! I have some disposable income for once, so might as well do both. I already ordered the dry plates. They just seem really cool