1. I've been taking a few photos of the Civil War guys over the past several years, but there just aren't that many where I live. I do like it though, and may start going to Kansas City some for this. I took a few shots the previous weekend using my Chamonix 045n (lightweight, fast set up) and a 5 in. CC Harrison Petzval dated to 1851. I used a 3-stop dark blue and 4-stop ND filter to give me 1/2 and 1s exposures on Efke 25. I got more hits than misses, which only encourages me. I love the summer festivals in general and find the Civil War guys to be a lot of fun.
2. The CC Harrison is obviously a quarter plate lens, but I have five or six other lenses 1845-1865. My longest is a 12 inch E.G. Wood pillbox, from ~1854. The second longest is an 1865 Voigtlander Petzval. I believe it is six or seven inch FL (dimensions are 60mm rear diameter and 11cm long w/o hood.) Both of these are too heavy for my little Chamonix, but my 1926 Gundlach Korona 5x7 would definitely hold them OK. (I have both 4x5 & 5x7 backs). The Korona is pretty solid but still folds up fairly nicely. I am thinking of using these lenses because my quarterplate lenses aren't giving me quite what I want (close.) The Voigtlander has a slot so I could make some stops for it. I'm finding I could use more DoF with group shots. I have a working Packard shutter for the Korona (1/25s). Not sure if the Voigtlander will cover 5x7--I start getting some severe aberrations around the edge even with 4x5. What length of Petzval would I need for 5x7?
3. I've been using Efke 25, partly to get slow exposure, and partly because I like the look. There are two guys in my area that do wet plate. The one to the south seems to have blown me off, but there is still a guy to my north, and he has done the Civil War guys in the past. I'm thinking of seeing if he might teach me wet plate, or at least let me see if this is something i might do. My other thought was Calotype/salt negs. I know those were still in use in the early 1860s, and it looks easier than wet plate. I'd really like dry plates as they are faster in the field, but those sound like even more work. Mostly I'm after the look and the slow exposure speeds. I'm not sure how deep I want to get into it though. It's really a slow process. Since I have some truly great quarter plate lenses, it's not out of the question for me to get a quarter plate camera from Star or somebody. Have to see how it goes. Don't think I want to do 5x7 wetplate just yet due to cost
4. A couple of shots from last weekend. I'd appreciate any thoughts/help.
Kent in SD
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by jp
Bookmarks