I just received another batch of about a dozen 4x5 Lane plates the other day, and have gone through them. When loaded into PS, the histogram shows these skewed to the right, making me think I'm still shooting about half a stop or so too bright. OTOH, I used a B&L rapid rectilinear in Unicum shutter or c.1910 Dagor, Tessar, or Heliar lenses in either Compound or Compur. It's been cold here so maybe the shutters are running a little slow too. And, the ground is snow covered making me wonder if there's more UV light bouncing around. i meter with an incident light meter. The plates all seemed to need a significant kick up of contrast too. The "clarity" slider in PS makes them look a lot better, at least if not over done. I'm becoming more experienced with these and my results are getting better. It's getting expensive though and I hope to soon be processing my own. I enjoy the look of glass plates, and I'm thinking they're a great stepping stone for me to eventually try wet plate. And hey, I already have a stash of screwed of 4x5 glass that I can recycle for wet plate.
Kent in SD
1. Fairview, SD. A year ago a drunken teenager drove fast down a dead end road. His mother put up a small memorial at the spot, and has returned several times to write brief but heart wrenching messages.
2. Baltic, SD. In 2011 a group of teenagers were tubing down the flooded Big Sioux River. All but one got out of the river before they got to the old mill dam.
3. Sioux Falls, SD. Falls of the Big Sioux.
4. Sioux Falls, SD. Chicago has the bean, Sioux Falls has the toad stool!
All shots taken with the c.1900 B&L rapid rectilinear in Unicum shutter. I think the lens just looks pretty cool, and I like watching it work.
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