What size mat for whole-plate?

[Richard K.]

For those of you working in that delicious, historic, near-perfect format, what size mount board do you like with it? 11x14 seems a tad small to me, 14x18, a tad elongated, 16x20 very nice (especially with 8-ply board) but perhaps a touch pretentious/gilding the lillyish? I dunno..
I've done the usual cut out and apply to different board sizes but so far, I'm not smitten. So, what do YOU like? (PS non 6.5 X 8.5 ers, feel free to cut amd comment :) ) BTW, I should be getting thet nice Ebony Whole-plate in 2 or 3 weeks!!!! (if my friends Roger and Doug don't intercept the mail person first!)

-Richard

[Rob_5419]

Reading the post it seems strange to me. I never wall-mount whole plate photographs, not because there's anything wrong with it - the thought just never occurred to me.

All of my whole plate images are in a hardbound photo album. Will be interested to hear what others do too.

Looking forward to your review on the Ebony ;)

[Richard K.]

All of my whole plate images are in a hardbound photo album.



Now THAT'S a great idea!

[Dan Schmidt]

If you have the room then mat-overmat the print as large as possible. For instance 4x5 contacts look amazing in 16x20 mats. Displaying your art is pretentious anyway so don't worry about.

However the problem becomes transport handling etc. Many people choose a mount size for handling, storing, sales, showing portfolios, etc and then for major displays attach the handling mount to a larger size over mount.

I follow M&P mat sizes for contemporary contact prints. Handling mats for 4x5,5x7,8x10 are 13x15 in size. I also have a set of 16x20 overmats with windows for 8x10 prints. This is just an example, you may want a different aspect ratio for whole plate

Space is always an issue , and you may be often using the handling mat as a display mat, so it ought to look good in that size, but when you have the space in the display mats the prints will stand out that much better.

[Sal Santamaura]

Richard, are your mockup tests based on a full 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch image area? If so, remember that your Ebony negatives will be smaller. If you're the one for whom Hiromi is also making film holders, and he's designed them to match the camera (which was originally configured around my Lotus holders), actual image area will be 157.6mm x 206.9mm. You'll need to allow for a slight overmat overlap if you don't float them and a small loss to trimming if you drymount and float them. Either way, I find 11x14 mats absolutely perfect.

[Richard K.]

Sal, I'm actually waiting on Lotus holders (but no reply from Lotus for 3 weeks, I hope they're still in business! they were going to stain the holders to match a sample of wood used in my Ebony camera that Hiromi sent them....) ....I'll also probably get 3 or so holders from Fotoman when they're ready!! I'll for now keep on mocking (up).

[Chuck Pere]

14x17 if 14x18 is too long?

[Howard Tanger]

Hi Sal: I'm the person for whom Hiromi is making 2 film holders plus the camera. He will probably be shipping everything by the end of this month.
I have been considering using 11x14 mats.
Howard Tanger


Richard, are your mockup tests based on a full 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 inch image area? If so, remember that your Ebony negatives will be smaller. If you're the one for whom Hiromi is also making film holders, and he's designed them to match the camera (which was originally configured around my Lotus holders), actual image area will be 157.6mm x 206.9mm. You'll need to allow for a slight overmat overlap if you don't float them and a small loss to trimming if you drymount and float them. Either way, I find 11x14 mats absolutely perfect.

[Mark Sawyer]

While it's an odd size, I prefer 13x16 mats for 8x10, whole plate, and odd sizes there abouts. It's a very nicely proportioned rectangle, and fits very nicely between the "too cramped" 11x14 and over-sized 16x20. Six boards can be cut from a single 32x40 full sheet of mat/museum board. Edward Weston used to mat his 8x10 contacts at 13 1/3 x 16, just so he'd have zero waste, but that seems a little overboard to me...

Really, you have to try a few sizes and see what you think...

[John Bowen]

For WHOLE-plate, wouldn't you use the WHOLE-sheet??? :-)

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.

[Petzval Paul]

I am shooting 1/1, too, and I've found that 9 1/2" x 12" mats for them is fine. I'm not really into over-sized matts and frames, so that's plenty for my tastes.

Is the Ebony a custom order or are they really produsing 1/1 cameras? Whole-plates are by far my favorite format and I have no plans on shooting anything else in the near future. I use an old Ansco 8" x 10" field camera for which I had a wetplate plate-holder custom built by Ray Morgenweck of the Star Camera Co. Although I can shoot any size up to 10" x 10" with that set-up, 1/1 is the most attractive, partly because it SO much easier to manipulate the plate with one hand (which is why Louis Daguerre dubbed it "whole plate" to begin with!). It's so nice to see others appreciating whole-plates!

- Paul

[Sal Santamaura]

...Is the Ebony a custom order or are they really produsing 1/1 cameras?...http://www.badgergraphic.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=2376

[Petzval Paul]

Amazing! Certainly not inexpensive, but I guess if one is going to go through the trouble of locating and purchasing whole-plate film, he would be willing to spend $9,000 on a camera! Makes me appreciate wet plate, though; I just need to go to the hardware store and have them cut glass for me at any size I want.

- Paul