Re: plate holders for dummies

All three of the old large format cameras I have
bought have come with at least a couple of the
original wooden plate holders. These holders seem
fairly common on the market and buying one might be
easier than trying to retrofit a newer type. The
newer holders fit in the old cameras, so I assume (for
the most part) the opposite is true, as long as the
format is the same. The old holders do have a spring
mechanism, as Ryuji notes, and a plate would sit in
the correct focal plane location (these two factors
make them tricky to use for modern film).

The ones I have were designed for dry plates, I don't
know if there were differences between these and the
wet plate holders (I imagine a trough at the bottom
;-).

David Barker

--- Ryuji Suzuki <rs@silvergrain.org> wrote:
> From: "Adam. Waterson" <artistboi@speakeasy.net>
> Subject: plate holders for dummies
> Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2004 14:55:25 -0400
>
> > I was figuring that i'd just butcher a few normal
> 4x5 film holders
> > trying to figure out how to make it work. Does
> anyone have a practical
> > resource for how to make a wet plate holder that
> still fits into
> > traditional 4x5 spring loaded back.
>
> I'm not much older than you to be useful but plates
> need a different
> mechanism to secure in the holder. I think most film
> holders require
> film to be bent when placing but this is impossible
> with plates. So
> plate holders usually have one side that is pushed
> in by spring. A
> plate is pushed against that side when inserting.
> Then there is
> problem with thickness of the base, and how to make
> up for the plane
> of focus. That is, plate holder must have deeper
> well so that the
> surface aligns with where the film was.
>
> --
> Ryuji Suzuki
> "You have to realize that junk is not the problem in
> and of itself.
> Junk is the symptom, not the problem."
> (Bob Dylan 1971; source: No Direction Home by Robert
> Shelton)
>

                
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Received on Tue Jul 13 14:16:43 2004