Scanning and printing old BW glass plate negatives.

[Big Fish]

Greetings all on this thread....

I have seem the KAMI video/tutorials and it looks impressive. Based on our discussions I will try the wet mount process and report the results. I last question? Do I disregard the Epson wet mount holder all together? Have you used it?

Thanks again. I'll have more questions.

Big Fish

[dwross]

Hi Big Fish,

I know you've decided on the process you're going to try, but I can't resist weighing in. How you go about getting your scans will depend on two issues - the density of the individual plates and the look you're trying to achieve. I've been both collecting old plates and making my own. The really dense ones won't scan on a flatbed. Those you'll want to wet print first and then scan the resulting print. But, it's hard to get a decent wet print from a really thin plate. Those are tailor-made for flatbed scanning and Photoshop tools, although you will have a certain amount of 'scanning artifacts' if the plate is old enough to be lacking an antihalation backing. A third method, if the plate is 'just right', is simply to place it on a light table and photograph it with a good digital camera. Towards the bottom of the linked page are some examples of all of the above:
http://www.thelightfarm.com/Map/DryPlate/MapTopic.htm

Good luck. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
d

[Bjorn Nilsson]

Hi Bjorn...

I have been hesitant to place plates directly of platen for fear of scrathing. I do have large format (30x40)silver gelatin prints as a baseline reference and trying to get the tonal range is a bit of an issue. I am trying different methods. The reproduced prints will be 30 x 40 and believe it's achieveable to actually make a better print. The key is the scan.
Sorry if this was in wrong forum as I am unfamiliar with forum.

Hi again!
First, the note about the "wrong" sub-forum was a "by the way". I see that you are new here, so I did answer your question first. Btw, welcome to the forum.

Just a thought about using mounting fluid: I would definitely test it first on a plate which isn't important. If the emulsion doesn't sit properly, the mounting fluid can loosen it from the plate. Also, when you mount the plate there will be a suction which will hold the plate quite firmly to the scanner glass. If you make some kind of tool with e.g. a razor blade at the top of a very small "crow bar", it should be easy to lift the plate in one corner after scanning.
I personally use a mounting station from betterscanning.com, as I so far have only scanned normal film. (This mounting station does use the dedicated scanner lens set, which focuses at 3mm or so above the glass surface.) As we are talking about wet mounting on the surface of the scanner glass, I know that there are some issues about sealing the scanner glass along the edges with the 700/750, so do check that first. (There should be a couple of web-pages and some forum threads about this, so just Google it.)

But do test without scanning fluid first. Just make and use a black paper mask to place around it. If you are satisfied with what you get, there is no reason to mess with scanning fluid. (Even though scanning fluid often gives you a little bit better results, with fewer dust specs and fewer visible small scratch marks.)

//Björn

[Big Fish]

Greetings d....

Never be afraid to jump with ideas and advice. I'am afraid your experince,ability and facilities to handle dry and wet mounting is beyond me. However, I very much appreciate you efforts and I enjoyd the viewing the work you are doing. For me scanning is the key to a great print, yet the imaging and photoshop manipulation are equally important and well as the paper selection. It's the final image that is appreciated and hopefully sold!

Take a look at AZTEK.com and view the tutorial of scanning wet plates withe the Epson 750 (with KAMI).

Thanks.

Big Fish

[Big Fish]

Hi Bjorn...

Thanks for welcome and feed back. It seems to be a great group. Isn't the internet great!!! As I mentioned to "d" above I am going to try the wet mount using the Epson wet mould holder using KAMI.(See Aztek.com and view their process). I have scanned numerous variations of the smae image as well as canned an 8 X 10 (Plus-X) copy negative of the plate. Now I will try the wet mount and make a selection. My goal is to reproduce an existing 30 x 40 size silver gelatin print I did 30 years ago. I am confident I am close. The next key is paper selection which I am narrowing down in next few weeks. I am looking at Hahnemuhle Fine Art Peart and Crane Museo Photo Silver rag.

One possible way is do a POP( pop out print) which is contact print exposed on special paper.

Best Regards,

Big Fish

[Jeremy Moore]

I would agree with Bjorn that if there is any flaking of the emulsion on the glass negatives then using oil may (I would even say probably) result in emulsion coming off of the plate.

[Howard Berg]

I have a related question on glass plate negatives. I inherited from my great grandfather a group of 5x7 glass plate negatives he made in Miami, in 1906, when there were only 300 people there. Several are historic, including scenes of the town and photos of a the boat "The Spray", Joshua Slocum's boat used for the first solo trip around the world that my great grandfather repaired for him. I have scanned these after carefully cleaning the glass side, but the main dirt left now is fungal growth in a few areas on the emulsion side. The negatives are archival-stored now.

The question: how can I safely clean (remove) the fungus? The emulsion is in relatively good shape.

Thanks for any help you can provide on this.

Howard

[dwross]

Howard,
The good news is that your plates are in decent shape. Unfortunately, I've never heard of a way to restore emulsion that has been etched by fungus. You can try gently wiping the emulsion with film cleaner on a very soft cloth. Don't try any solution with water, because fungus-attacked gelatin seems to be even more vulnerable to water damage than unaffected gelatin. 'Back in the days' there was a thriving industry for retouching prints made from damaged negatives. Today, with Photoshop it's a lot easier. If you don't want a digital print, you can make (or have made) a digital negative for contact printing on silver gelatin paper.

Good luck with this. You're very fortunate to have the old plates, and they are very fortunate to have come to live with someone who appreciates them.

d

Big Fish,
Thanks for the Aztek link. Very interesting.

[Big Fish]

Hi Howard....

From my research and experince I would not touch the emulsion sie of the glass plate with anything especially not a cleaning solution. I would consult a conservator for anything do you with emulsion. There are numerous sites avialble about restoration of glass plates. Google and if no luck contact me again I will send links to the ones I found. As an aside, Miami in 1906 would be interesting to see. I did allot of research on Carl Fisher who made Miami Beach "the City of Magic." He disn't arrive until 1909-1910.

[Noeyedear]

I have scanned hundreds of Glass negs, at the time I was using an Artixscan 1100. Emulsion down on the Glass draw and scanned Colour rgb 48bit, works a treat. Easier than modern emulsions.

Kevin.