I need help with a camera I just got (ICA Sirene 135/1)

[vichouse]

I ordered the camera from eBay recently because I wanted to get into dry/wet plate photography and it was relatively cheap. The photos did not show what specific model ICA it was and that it is missing the main viewfinder on the back. It is also missing the focus scale thing on the bed that has the distances. It does still have the viewfinder on the top and the lens is clean. Can anyone help me learn how to use it without the ground plate viewfinder (I think that is what its called) and the focus scale thing on the bed? Sorry if this is the wrong place.

[Two23]

A problem you're going to run into is there are no wet plate holders made for those type of cameras. Wet plate is all about the holder, not the camera.


Kent in SD

[Scott__Allen__]

i tried to find info on your camera and I'm sure you found this. http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Sirene

It appears you either focus with a ground-glass back you can focus with or scale focus, but you say you are out of luck on both. That explains why it was cheap. You could buy another one of these cameras but you will be having to figure out a wet plate holder.

The easiest way to get into wet plate is to find an inexpensive monorail 4x5 like a Sinar F or any other 4x5 that takes standard film holders and you can adapt a film holder for plates pretty easily. Examples of how to do that are on youtube.

Scott

[Steven Tribe]

Although, single metal cassettes were the standard for these cameras, many owners started to use film packs - which were ideal for family gatherings and trips to the zoo. These are much deeper and are loaded from the rear.
These film pack cassettes are still around and are of no use to anyone as film packs are long gone. But they could be quite easily converted to hold a wet/dry plate.
EBay.de and EBay.fr are the places to look.

[r.e.]

I'm not particularly knowledgeable about eBay, but I read recently that sellers can't contract out of the return period. If you're within the return period, and the vendor stated that he/she won't accept returns, it might be worth exploring this question.