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altb44
25-Sep-2017, 12:59
I just bought a nice little Swift and Son quarter plate camera. It has a lens on it that, I read, is probably from around 1918(?) It came with a well preserved Swift roller shutter that still works, amazingly.

The camera has three double book plate holders. When I opened them, there was in each space a glass plate which had thin black matte paper covering it on both sides. The paper had come loose a bit on a couple of the plates, but most have this stuck on pretty firmly. I've only used film, so I have no idea what these are. Could this be a previous owners' attempt at covering glass plates so they can use film? Could they be unexposed glass plates? Did they come like that? I've looked on Google and searched here but all I can find is what a glass negative looks like.

Anyone know what an unexposed old glass plate would look like?

domaz
25-Sep-2017, 14:22
All the unexposed glass plates I've seen were white. And if they were unexposed before they are exposed now unless you did your investigation in the dark. Most likely they were an attempt by a previous owner to use film in a glass plate holder.

altb44
25-Sep-2017, 15:16
ok I wondered if that was so. Thanks. Having never seen an unexposed glass plate I wondered...

Nodda Duma
25-Sep-2017, 15:31
It's actually a very bright yellow...white under safelight.