If I were to custom-make plate holders, would you buy them?

I'm considering producing a batch of custom-milled solid aluminum* plate
holders that will fit in modern large format film cameras. I can't imagine
that there would be a huge market for such a thing but I wanted to know if
any of you would be interested.

I would make 4x5 and 8x10 holders with quarter plate and full plate cutouts
(respectively). It wouldn't be very difficult to modify the process to make
cutouts for different sizes (I'm considering 5x9 for myself, for instance).
Based on a couple early estimates, I could probably sell the 4x5 holders for
$65 each and the 8x10 holders for $120 each.

Does this tickle anyone's fancy? I know that there aren't many people who
work with wet/dry plate on the list but maybe you just lurk and I don't know
about you!

Thanks,
Jon

*I'm not sure of the reactivity considerations with wet-plate chemistry.
Would the silver iodide react with Aluminum? I might consider steel and
titanium versions for wet-plate considerations.
Received on Tue Jul 13 09:12:11 2004