Can film be used in plate holders?

[Joe Smigiel]

Why not just get a few Film Holders? I understand the potential cost issue, but there ate tons of them available and they work great for film.

Easier said than done for some formats. I like whole-plate 6.5x8.5 and it seems most of the extant holders were originally made for glass plates. The format decreased in popularity in the early part of the 20th century and sheet film holders in that size are hard to come by especially for some camera models. There wasn't a standard for whole-plate in that era so one might have several different sizes of plate holders of the same format for different cameras, yet they all take the same size film sheaths. I wish I had about 20 more whole-plate inserts.

[Louis Pacilla]

Why not just get a few Film Holders? I understand the potential cost issue, but there ate tons of them available and they work great for film.

They may be for an older vintage camera that takes proprietary holders and the one/ones he has happen to be plate holders? I own quite a few American made late 1800's cameras each manufacture using it's unique holder for the same format. So finding another set of holders (film) would be difficult at best.

Joesph beat me to it!

BTW How you doing Joe? Been awhile since I've hung out w/ you. I believe it was @ brother Gunks back when he still liked us photographers.

[DannL]

My two pesetas. Depending on the type of subjects your pursue, if you find that your subjects are regularly out of focus, and something else located at another distance is regularly in focus, one method of fixing this is to reverse the focusing screen (aka; ground glass). It may help if you are using a plate camera with film inserts. In my experience, with my cameras, the thickness of the focusing screen is a close approximate to the distance in error. It's easy enough to measure from the lens board to the focusing screen and then compare that measurement to the measurement from the lens board and the film as it sets in an insert. I have one 8x10 that works great with just the focusing screen reversed. I then have this 5x7 camera that is so severe in that I had to flipped the focusing screen and then I still had to add shims between the focusing screen frame and the camera's case. But in any case, should one want to revert back to using plates, removing these modifications is a cinch.

[IanG]

Easier said than done for some formats. I like whole-plate 6.5x8.5 and it seems most of the extant holders were originally made for glass plates. The format decreased in popularity in the early part of the 20th century and sheet film holders in that size are hard to come by especially for some camera models. There wasn't a standard for whole-plate in that era so one might have several different sizes of plate holders of the same format for different cameras, yet they all take the same size film sheaths. I wish I had about 20 more whole-plate inserts.

Joe, there must have been a B.S. (British Standard), Kodak Ltd sold modern style Whole plate holders here in the UK and film & plates were available into the 1970's here in the UK. There was no standard fit for book-form holders only the plate size itself was standard. I have 4 different types fit Quarter plate Thornton Pickard plate holders.

Half plate and Whole plate were largely replaced by 7x5 in the US, a format we never had here until very recently. So you need to look in the UK for holders, the reverse is true for those of us here who shoot 7x5 there's almost no DDS second hand her. I saw some International style WP film holders for sale 2 months ago, the seller may still have them when I see him on 5th July.

At some stage I'm due yo buy two large shelves full of wooden book-form plate holders but I've no idea what's there until I finally get them which will be when the current owner gets around to clearing more space.

Ian

[Ironage]

I was just looking at a 3.5x5 camera which came with a plate holder. I ended up letting it go, because I didn't see any film holders or film sheaths available for that size.

[Joe Smigiel]

Joe, there must have been a B.S. (British Standard), Kodak Ltd sold modern style Whole plate holders here in the UK and film & plates were available into the 1970's here in the UK. There was no standard fit for book-form holders only the plate size itself was standard.

A few years ago I started measuring holders I had or taking dimensions from other posts here on the forum. This table is what I have so far for the whole-plate format:



I eventually decided to pick up some Rittreck holders and backs since they seem to be more easily found and presumably were made into the late 20th century for the Rittreck 5x7 View Camera. I have 15 Rittreck holders so should be all set. I also recently picked up a Toyo whole-plate expansion back and 3 holders for it, so my plan is to use the backs to adapt other cameras to the whole-plate format rather than trying to find older Eastman film holders for example.

I'll probably end up selling the nice Eastman #2 whole-plate kit I have and just concentrate on the Japanese cameras and perhaps a ROC Carleton or Universal.

I've also seen 8x10 holders that had factory-modified septa to take whole-plate film, so I guess there are several different solutions at least in the whole-plate format.

[Joe Smigiel]

BTW How you doing Joe? Been awhile since I've hung out w/ you. I believe it was @ brother Gunks back when he still liked us photographers.

Doing OK Louis. I hope the same is true for you. That was a great weekend at Mr. Gunks homestead. Got to meet Petronio there as well. Good times! I miss reading of their escapades here.

[jnantz]

Just a quick question.

Can film be used in old plate holders? Are there any modifications necessary?

hi ironage

i have a few falling plate cameras that have septum/sheaths that hold the glass
but i don't often use glass in them but paper negatives. what i do is get single ply
mat board and stick it in to raise the paper off the back of the septum, and it works OK.
i don't use film in these cameras so i can't help you there .. sometimes it is about
finding a solution that works with your problem ...
i also have plate cameras i use with modern film holders ( and film ), and never have issues with focus shift
( been doing both of these thing for over a decade ) ...

you might consider using paper negatives and doing a few tests to see
what works for you if you don't find sheaths ... one person's " looks great and no problem"
is another person's " uggh this is terrible "
paper negatives are cheap .. just remember to trim a teenby bit of the longside of the paper so it fits better in the holder.

good luck
john

[Two23]

I have some old book style half plate holders I use on an 1890s Watson & Son tailboard. I shoot 4x5 film in it. I do have some Kodak sheaths, but in the end I just cut some black foam core to fit in the holder and use that as a backing for the film. It seems to work very well. Shots come out focused anyway.

[Drew Bedo]

Easier said than done for some formats. I like whole-plate 6.5x8.5 and it seems most of the extant holders were originally made for glass plates. The format decreased in popularity in the early part of the 20th century and sheet film holders in that size are hard to come by especially for some camera models. There wasn't a standard for whole-plate in that era so one might have several different sizes of plate holders of the same format for different cameras, yet they all take the same size film sheaths. I wish I had about 20 more whole-plate inserts.

Right you are on all counts. Do whatever works best and shoot away. Just don't modify the camera itself. We do not actually "own" these vintage cameras in my view. It is my feeling that we are just stewards or curators maintaining them for the next generation of photographers.