View Full Version : 1906 Premo Latent? Glass Plate Images
While preparing to load L. Jason Dry Plates in my LN Premo film holder, from a VGC 4X5 Premo full kit I had to remove 2 old glass plates.
I had looked at these plates before and thought they have ruined emulsion. Good thing I did not toss them. I was going to. The lightbox showed little. V700 found more.
I think these plates are old. The camera kit is in a tattered original case, but the camera is barely touched. I date it 1906 as the set includes an empty Primo Film Pack holder. First year.
Enlarging the scan shows 3 men in a pram with very long oars. One man has suspenders on. The image must be old from those details.
I think these were never developed but somehow self-developed...? Ideas?
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4687/25651154058_f8352ff3fd_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/F5GSqS)Raw scan (https://flic.kr/p/F5GSqS) by moe.randy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4737/25651149178_ce9558214d_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/F5GQYJ)River Bridge FS scan PS (https://flic.kr/p/F5GQYJ) by moe.randy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4640/38813330304_ec03ab377b_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/228NsS5)3 men pram suspenders FS PS (https://flic.kr/p/228NsS5) by moe.randy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr
"One man has suspenders on. The image must be old from those details."
:( I wear suspenders...
This is amazing - wonderful find. I wonder if you could scan / crop the section showing the buildings closer and post - someone may be able to recognize some buildings...if they are still standing.
Thanks, I did think of that. I will see what I can do.
Now I need to develop a J.Lane Dry Plate.
"One man has suspenders on. The image must be old from those details."
:( I wear suspenders...
This is amazing - wonderful find. I wonder if you could scan / crop the section showing the buildings closer and post - someone may be able to recognize some buildings...if they are still standing.
Steven Tribe
5-Jan-2018, 18:09
This is a very good "sign" for your new dry plate endeavours!
I'm just experimenting. Nodda Duma is selling plates under J. Lane Dry Plates on this forum.
This is a very "sign" for your new dry plate endeavours!
"One man has suspenders on. The image must be old from those details."
:( I wear suspenders...
This is amazing - wonderful find. I wonder if you could scan / crop the section showing the buildings closer and post - someone may be able to recognize some buildings...if they are still standing.
Here you go. I don't know it. Looks like eastern usa. I'll put it on FB also.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4600/39498415592_febaed0cf0_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/23bkGRo)town crop hi rezRiver Bridge FS scan PS (https://flic.kr/p/23bkGRo) by moe.randy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tincancollege/), on Flickr
Mark Sampson
5-Jan-2018, 20:47
Wild stuff Randy. Best of luck- keep at it- I'm sure you don't need reminding that most of the historic contact-printing processes require very contrasty negatives. "Plucky" was the word they used back then.
The railroad bridge is a type made popular by the Missouri Pacific after about 1905. It became the most popular style and hundreds of them are still in use today.
Kent in SD
John Layton
6-Jan-2018, 05:25
I'm guessing that many on this forum know well...usually through oversight/absent mindedness - how both film and paper are capable, undeveloped, of producing "ambient images" (visible latent images) while being exposed to light over time. What seems unusual here is to see such latent, undeveloped images despite what even when taken would have been relatively short exposure times (note figures in boats). While I guess its possible that the necessary silver reduction would indeed happen over time, my further thought is that this would typically be accompanied by an amount of cumulative radiation over the same period which would render any image invisible. Perhaps something about the chemical/physical nature of dry plates which makes this possible?
Of course...there is another possibility - that the original photographer simply used the plate holder to store the processed negatives!
Thanks, everyone. I enjoy digging in the dust.
John, I did consider the owner stored his negs developed. Could be. I have no skills to fully examine the negs, nor a real desire. I accept them as found objects.
One caveat, have any of us put developed negs back in a holder? Maybe a print...
In this case, it is a possibility the camera was used a few times, glass negs are rather fragile and the trophies were stored for eternity, as I wrote, it's all almost unused.
223, now where is that bridge? Not Pottstown PA where a similar river and bridge existed in the 60's. The town is way too big.
It looked almost familiar to me, that is why I suggested closer scan - the setting looks similar to an old railroad bridge crossing the Dan River in Danville, VA - the bridge is still there but is now part of a walking / biking trail.
I think you got it. Here's a North facing view. https://www.google.com/maps/@36.5881615,-79.3824127,3a,75y,175.2h,92.75t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMrssGyH0qcu9L5GKEIR7tg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
It looked almost familiar to me, that is why I suggested closer scan - the setting looks similar to an old railroad bridge crossing the Dan River in Danville, VA - the bridge is still there but is now part of a walking / biking trail.
Mark Sampson
6-Jan-2018, 10:57
Randy- I meant to post in your other glass-plate thread. But I love seeing these plates too- I enjoy the mysteries that antique emulsions can contain.
Randy- I meant to post in your other glass-plate thread. But I love seeing these plates too- I enjoy the mysteries that antique emulsions can contain.
Yes, it felt like that.
I am interested in what I can get out of the several dozen old unexposed plates I have.
And I want it to warm so I go outside and see what 'real' light does!
I bet you are now happy with your move.:)
Randy, I googled "Danville River Walk" and there are a few images of the bridge, which looks very much like yours, but I believe the buildings are wrong. That section of town, a hundred years or so ago, was a tobacco warehouse district - many of the old buildings are now converted to apartments. I don't think it's a match.
Randy, I googled "Danville River Walk" and there are a few images of the bridge, which looks very much like yours, but I believe the buildings are wrong. That section of town, a hundred years or so ago, was a tobacco warehouse district - many of the old buildings are now converted to apartments. I don't think it's a match.
As they say, close, but no cigar.
Fun looking!
Mark Sampson
6-Jan-2018, 17:32
The images may be local (more or less) to wherever you found the camera and plates. And given where people lived 100+ years ago, I'd be looking east rather than west. I'll guess somewhere in Ohio.
The images may be local (more or less) to wherever you found the camera and plates. And given where people lived 100+ years ago, I'd be looking east rather than west. I'll guess somewhere in Ohio.
The Premo camera did come from a big Cleveland collector. He had more gear than any old time or new time camera store ever dreamed of. I know he often covered Ohio and Michigan into Detroit. But he was not old enpugh to shoot those old plate images. I have posted here shots from his Mint 1951 Speed 4X5 of a night time car accident ala Weegee. Dead people laying in road.
Ohio is a good place to look!
Thanks, Mark.
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