Thornward Dry Plates

[Racer X 69]

I keep seeing these Thornward Dry Plates offered for sale, "unopened". Now I know they are old, and we all know the unpredictable nature of old film, etc., but has anyone ever taken a chance on these old things?

Or has anyone thought about taking them and re-coating them and making photographs with them?

It would seem that the things could have some use aside from sitting around on a shelf collecting dust.

[Jim Andrada]

I have 19 Kodak Full Plate (6.5 x 8.5) glass plates with the old emulsion stripped off and a couple of plate holders just waiting for me to get around to trying either wet or dry plate. Or both. All I need is more time...

[MMELVIS]

Thanks for asking the question, just purchased some off the bay. Will see if the fit in 4x5 drop plate camera I have. If they do I will shoot a couple and see what comes out. If they do not fit the drop plate camera will try the 4x5 view camera.

[Racer X 69]

So these things may prove more useful if one re-applies an emulsion to them?

[MMELVIS]

I am going to try them out of the box to see what I get

[MMELVIS]

Thornward Dry Plates Pictures, you can get a picture out of 100 year old plates

109155
Inverted colors

109156
The Original

[Mkillmer]

Great stuff!! What exposure, developer and time?

[Racer X 69]

Thornward Dry Plates Pictures, you can get a picture out of 100 year old plates

109155
Inverted colors

109156
The Original

So the old stuff is viable then.


Great stuff!! What exposure, developer and time?

Yes, MMELVIS, please share your exposure and development details. I think that with some adjustments these old things may even be coaxed into some very good results.

[MMELVIS]

The camera I used was an old drop plate camera, Vive MPC. The plate was placed in the camera in a dark location then exposed for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds. The picture was taken at night time so the only light was from the lamp. The Vive MPC manual suggests an exposure time of 1.5 to 5 minutes for exposure time for dark indoor shots. I picked 2.5 minutes for the exposure time.

Tray process the plate
Developed in Arista Developer 12 minutes, developed by sight, 12 minutes is when it looked good
Water stop bath, 3 minutes
Fixed in Arista Fixer 6 minutes
Water rinse, 8 minutes, switching out the water in the tray every couple of minutes

[Tin Can]

Shoot them, you can strip them later if it fails. I got a old box of 3x4 dry glass plates and shot these with the first 1, I am saving the other 9 for the future...

The box is labeled Kodak Anti-Halo Orthochromatic Tropical Plates. I have no idea how old they are.

109306

[Racer X 69]

The camera I used was an old drop plate camera, Vive MPC. The plate was placed in the camera in a dark location then exposed for about 2 minutes and 30 seconds. The picture was taken at night time so the only light was from the lamp. The Vive MPC manual suggests an exposure time of 1.5 to 5 minutes for exposure time for dark indoor shots. I picked 2.5 minutes for the exposure time.

Tray process the plate
Developed in Arista Developer 12 minutes, developed by sight, 12 minutes is when it looked good
Water stop bath, 3 minutes
Fixed in Arista Fixer 6 minutes
Water rinse, 8 minutes, switching out the water in the tray every couple of minutes

Thanks for the info!

[Racer X 69]

Shoot them, you can strip them later if it fails. I got a old box of 3x4 dry glass plates and shot these with the first 1, I am saving the other 9 for the future...

The box is labeled Kodak Anti-Halo Orthochromatic Tropical Plates. I have no idea how old they are.

109306

Nice Randy. A bottle of bubbly and a license plate. New Years Eve?

[Tin Can]

Maybe!

I think called them 25 ISO and shot 3 stops hot. Then developed normally for me in 1/100 in Rodinal 10 minutes. Did not fix or long wash long as I saw the peeling.


Nice Randy. A bottle of bubbly and a license plate. New Years Eve?