Half-Plate Elitist User Group

[Ole Tjugen]

I'm not a half-plate user, but I do have everything I need to be one.

That's about the situation for me too, although I've tried to avoid adding another format to the mix.

I already shoot 6.5x9cm, 9x12cm, 13x18cm, 18x24cm, 24x30cm and 30x40cm, as well as 4x5" and 5x7". And there's a 4.5x6cm plate camera and a 8x10" Gandolfi under restoration...

The 13x18cm would be the German metric equivalent of half-plate, one of my old photo books calls it "the smallest usable plate size for serious photography"
Mine is a classic "Reisekamera" or "travel camera" - rear focusing, rigid front with shift&rise on the lens board. It takes bookform plate holders.

My 18x24cm is a (probably) German made camera of what that same book calls the "Englische Type" - the kind that folds up with the lensboard inside and the ground glass exposed. The "Reisekamera" has the lens exposed and the ground glass inside, covered by the folded-up bed.

As to lenses I have - most of them. Ranging from simple meniscus through Petzval and Rapid Rectilinear trough Periskop and Doppel-Protars to modern Tessars and Plasmats, including some very nice old "thingies" like Heliars and an Amatar...

[Ash]

Ole, one day a relative will have to inherit all of that. I just hope you have some deserving grand-children by that point!!

[Martin Courtenay-Blake]

Hi Rob

I've been working on restoring an old RAF Kodak half plate which I bought years ago from a farm in the Borders (plenty of these still around) but I had considered converting to 5x7. As I have just bought a new 5x4 I think I'll keep the old Kodak at it's original format. My only worry is availability of film.

I recently obtained from Ebay (of course) a beautiful 9.1/2inch Wray Apo Lustrar process lens which I hope will do a reasonable job...glass is pristine but uncoated. I have also just bought a 240mm f9.0 Apo Nikkor which I think is the Tessar type. I am now looking for whatever TTH/Cooke and Ross lenses that may suit. Also have a collection of Repromaster/Ultragons from 105mm to 210mm but they just don'thave the feel of the English lenses.

On the subject of plate holders I thought of using 2mm glass to fill them out but what do you feel about 2mm aluminium plate, matt black anodised as an alternative. Would obviously be less fragile and non reflective as well.

Next project is an enlarger for the larger film sizes. I have 2 De Veres. one for roll film and the other up to 5x4, but no chance of using either for half plate or bigger. I have a design in mind to cover up to 12x10 using readily available Osram high output compact fluorescents which have a colour temp of around 6000K. Need to do the camera first though.

Nice to see there is still interest in these older formats still.

Cheers

Martin

[Rob_5419]

Hi Paul,

I'm not a half-plate user, but I do have everything I need to be one. A few years back I bought an old Lancaster Instantograph.

Ahhh...the Lancaster....I do know this one:

http://www.antiquewoodcameras.com/lanc-ref.htm

I built some adapters so that I could use regular 4x5 holders with it. Then when I bought my 8x10 Kodak 1A it came with a dozen half plate film-holders. They need a bit of cleaning and probably retaping, but look like they will be OK.

Yes - it's amazing how easy it is to repair these. Black vinyl tape works well to protect the hinged cloth tape which has eroded. I guess after 100 years, it makes sense to treat these well - the wood ages beautifully and polishes up gloriously too. It's such a difference experience than using plastic Fidelity DDS's....

I've even got an ancient cobbled together half-plate enlarger, although that will probably be rebuilt into an 8x10 enlarger.

I'm impressed. When I started hunting for a plate camera (and ended up with a half-plate to see if I could cope), I decided to forego enlargement an do contact printing with plates instead. Guess that's why the older vintage triplets to Tessar-types appeal to me.

The one thing I don't have is film...

www.unicircuits.com/shop

Or if you're stuck for half-plate film in Australia [Fuji Acros half-plate], you can get it from England from www.mrcad.co.uk [Efke 25 half-plate] or www.retrophotographic.com [Fomapan NP22 & NP27]. Prices look good too.


Best regards.

[Rob_5419]

Hi Martin,

These British ex-military cameras seem to be everywhere. The Kodak half-plates are big cameras too - very sturdy.

Glad to hear you decided to keep the Kodak half-plate as a half-plate. I tend to think of modifying a half-plate camera with a 5x7" back a bit like adding red lipstick or bellows to a rusted vintage camera. Maybe that's my reaction to age or the digitising phenomenon.

I recently obtained from Ebay (of course) a beautiful 9.1/2inch Wray Apo Lustrar process lens which I hope will do a reasonable job...glass is pristine but uncoated. I have also just bought a 240mm f9.0 Apo Nikkor which I think is the Tessar type. I am now looking for whatever TTH/Cooke and Ross lenses that may suit. Also have a collection of Repromaster/Ultragons from 105mm to 210mm but they just don'thave the feel of the English lenses.

That's quite some. Ross 7 1/2 inch Portrait lens - or any others from this chart - take a pick

http://www.allenrumme.com/lensdb/Portrait.html

There are some Darlot types which seem fascinating. The TTH ones really are quite tricky for a newcomer. I think I've got a series Vb which is a duplicating lens - not much use for shooting beyond a few metres.

On the subject of plate holders I thought of using 2mm glass to fill them out but what do you feel about 2mm aluminium plate, matt black anodised as an alternative. Would obviously be less fragile and non reflective as well.

I have some aluminium plates in 8.5 x 6.5 cm format with a lip groove around three sides of the plate to hold the film perfectly. They look very old and the aluminium has warped from the rear pressure plate buckle pressing into it. Also, the anodised black has flaked off leaving flecks on the film surface which gets in the way of development from time to time. I guess these anodised aluminium plates were used when ortho film was all the rage (clear base with no anti-halation layer either). It would be very slick though - much easier to handle than glass.

Next project is an enlarger for the larger film sizes. I have 2 De Veres. one for roll film and the other up to 5x4, but no chance of using either for half plate or bigger. I have a design in mind to cover up to 12x10 using readily available Osram high output compact fluorescents which have a colour temp of around 6000K. Need to do the camera first though.

That's quite a project Martin. Whereas my darkroom might handle another enlarger, I decided just to use half-plates (hopefully full plate in the future) without enlargement and do direct contacts. I like the idea of using a half-plate camera for half-plate projects, just to keep alive the consciousness of the half-plate era - it makes a perfect print publishing format and I guess 6x4" also fits very well in book format. I can only go up to 5x4" at the moment for enlarging - can't see anyway to change the head of my 5x4" enlarger to a 7x5" enlarger without a headache....

Would love to hear more about your work and progress with those lenses too.

Best wishes.