Where to buy Agfa 6x9.5 glass plates

Stephen Frizza · May 26, 2010

Im having a mental blank and I cant find the details of my supplier anywhere so I am hoping someone here can help me. Who knows the details for the European supplier of Agfa Glass plates in 6x9.5 size?

Ian Grant · May 26, 2010

Bit of a time warp there Stephen

No-one makes these plates any longer, you might get lucky and find some film, film-packs and cut film adapters made plates obsolete years ago.

Slavich may still supply glass plates, and Ilford can make them but theire plates are for specialist scientific purposes and very expensive.

Ian

Stephen Frizza · May 26, 2010

Ian Agfa Gervart still coat onto glass plates they have a minimum order of 100 plates and as you can imagine cost a kidney. For some reason everyone seems to think no one but Slavich still sell glass plates hmmm...its driving me crazy the guy who sells them in Germany is originally from Australia and the main focus of the company is aerial film products. his initials are B and M but i cant think im having a super mental blank :-(
The last time I ordered fresh plates from AGFA was late 2008, has it ceased since then?

WRSchmalfuss · May 26, 2010

AGFA glass plates

Pls get in touch with photo@mahn.net, I guess they can help you.

Cheers

Michael W · May 26, 2010

This is the guy you told me about a few years ago
http://www.maginnity.com/impressum.htm
Website shows them as distributors of Agfa Aerial products
Let me know price/qty & I might take some if you need to put an order together. Correct size is 6.5x9cm, (I guess you know that & made a typo.)

ntenny · May 26, 2010

goldie said:
This is the guy you told me about a few years ago
http://www.maginnity.com/impressum.htm
Website shows them as distributors of Agfa Aerial products

Their "products and services" page doesn't include any plates, but I hope that just means that they're not popular enough to put on the list, rather than that they're truly unavailable. I thought Slavich were the last company on earth coating on glass plates, and if I was wrong, I'm quite glad to learn that!

Let me know price/qty & I might take some if you need to put an order together. Correct size is 6.5x9cm, (I guess you know that & made a typo.)

I might be interested in some too, depending on the price. (If there are other USAan folks interested, I go to Europe regularly and can pick up stuff shipped to a friend there and bring it back...)

-NT

Stephen Frizza · May 27, 2010

Thanks Goldie your worth your weight in erm... gold! LOL and yea I made a typo eekk. This is who I was looking for. Thanks so much!!! YOU ARE AWESOME!!!!

Henning Serger · May 27, 2010

Stephen Frizza said:
Im having a mental blank and I cant find the details of my supplier anywhere so I am hoping someone here can help me. Who knows the details for the European supplier of Agfa Glass plates in 6x9.5 size?

Dear Steven,

Agfa-Gevaert is still producing glass plates in 6,5 x 9 cm size. They do one production run every year. Packings of 10 plates are available. Besides the already mentioned german distributor they are also available at macodirekt.
Wish you good pictures and a lot of fun!

Best regards,
Henning

Stephen Frizza · May 27, 2010

Henning Serger said:
Dear Steven,

Agfa-Gevaert is still producing glass plates in 6,5 x 9 cm size. They do one production run every year. Packings of 10 plates are available. Besides the already mentioned german distributor they are also available at macodirekt.
Wish you good pictures and a lot of fun!

Best regards,
Henning

Thanks Henning I didnt know that they were available via macodirekt do they list this somewhere on their website? Hopefully this thread helps others find glass plates. Im sure the only reason people stopped using them was due to the notion they were no longer made.

Henning Serger · May 27, 2010

Hi Stephen,

Stephen Frizza said:
Thanks Henning I didnt know that they were available via macodirekt do they list this somewhere on their website?.

No, you have to contact them via Email, it is a product for special order.

Stephen Frizza said:
Hopefully this thread helps others find glass plates. Im sure the only reason people stopped using them was due to the notion they were no longer made.

Possible. Tell your lab clients about it .

Best regards,
Henning

Stephen Frizza · Jul 5, 2010

easy here is an online place for buying glass plates
http://www.macodirect.de/apx-100-glasplates-p-2038.html

AgentX · Jul 5, 2010

Wow. Over 10 Euro a shot. What am I missing about dry glass plates that makes them worth this kind of money??

Do they exhibit an image quality similar to wet plates somehow, minus possible collodion imperfections?

Ian Grant · Jul 5, 2010

They are used for scientific purposes where film doesn't have enough dimensional stability, usually nuclear physics or similar. Ilford have one customer who pay a large sum for specialist glass plates.

We saw a demonstration of the glass coating line on an Ilford factory tour, impressive in room lighting, but it's used in production in total darkness.

Ian

ntenny · Jul 5, 2010

Holy @#$(#%^!! I'm all for glass plates, but 117 euros for ten of them is too rich for my blood.

-NT

Henning Serger · Jul 28, 2010

Stephen Frizza said:
easy here is an online place for buying glass plates
http://www.macodirect.de/apx-100-glasplates-p-2038.html

Hello Stephen,

it looks like your thread here has improved the availability of glass plates.
The Agfa plates were presented some weeks ago at the fineartforum in Germany. I've asked the Maco staff about the availability of other formats: They said there is no technical problem. If there is enough demand for other formats, then it could be produced. So if someone is interested in further formats contacting Maco is the way to go.

Best regards,
Henning

Henning Serger · Jul 28, 2010

Ian Grant said:
They are used for scientific purposes where film doesn't have enough dimensional stability, usually nuclear physics or similar.
Ian

Hello Ian,

that is right. Another major application is in the car industry as dimensional stable references for control of production roboters.

Best regards,
Henning

cmo · Jul 29, 2010

There are other sources, too.

wephota.de (Banse & Grohmann) and lumiere-shop.de have glass plates, too, in many sizes and types. I know that some large format photographers used them for their old cameras. And I know two guys that make their own plates.

Kevin Kehler · Jul 29, 2010

Forgive my ignorance but are these pre-coated glass plates or just straight glass plates. My (limited) understanding is that plates usually are dry and you mix up chemicals on the spot; pre-coated would be nicer but harder to load/transport. If they are just regular glass plates, why not get a local glass shop to cut some and coat yourself?

AgX · Jul 29, 2010

Those plates by Agfa and Slavich are halide emulsions coated on glass instead of on film.

Kevin Kehler · Jul 29, 2010

AgX said:
Those plates by Agfa and Slavich are halide emulsions coated on glass instead of on film.

See, I thought that all people who used plates where mixing their own emulsions up, which again shows my ignorance. Thanks for letting me know.

dwross · Jul 29, 2010

Kevin Kehler said:
See, I thought that all people who used plates where mixing their own emulsions up, which again shows my ignorance. Thanks for letting me know.

Hi Kevin,

I think I see a couple of layers of confusion here. Not your fault -- there's some overlap in the historical naming of things.

In the beginning, there was wet plate collodion. The practitioners did (and still do) take clean, uncoated pieces of glass out in the field and coat them on the spot. This was (and still is) a nuisance, so many attempts were made at 'dry plate' collodion -- without much luck. When gelatin dry plates came along it revolutionized photography, not unlike what has happened with digital. Today, alternative process photographers differentiate between 'wet plate' (meaning collodion) and 'dry plate' (meaning silver gelatin). Both are coated by hand, the difference being whether it's in the field or in the darkroom. The Agfa plates of silver gelatin dry.

Hope that's clearer than mud
d

Where to buy Agfa 6x9.5 glass plates

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