Hi, this is my first post on this forum. I'm a digital (mostly) portrait photographer and I just recently discovered wet plate collodion and salt printing and I literally became obsessed I want to buy the camera and the other materials to start making my own photos, but I cannot decide what format and what brand/model.
Format: I heard it's much easier to start with small wet plates, but I know I'll eventually want larger size, and something like 4x5 sounds like too small, even for the beginning. Even 8x10 sounds too small to me, but if it's so much more difficult than 4x5, I'm ok for that compromise. I print my photos myself on my inkjet printer and they are usually 17x22in, but I got so used to this size that it became so small over years, so recently I usually send my photos to the shop to be printed on the even larger sizes. I know this is comparing apples and oranges, but I just wanted to say that really small photos does not inspire me as much as the large sized prints. This size looks fantastic to me, but it's 16x20, so probably even much more complicated for the beginner.
Camera: What good camera would you suggest me? I've seen hundreds of cameras on ebay, and I just can't decide. There are 170 years old ones and the brand new ones. I have no ideas what kind of picture they produce. Even though I like larger size, on the contrary, I don't like super sharp wet plate photos. My favorite collodian photos are quite blurry and I'd say made with vintage, rather than brand new cameras. This is the image quality I like. I want a good camera, that will serve me for many years and that I'll enjoy using it and will provide good results. I don't want necessarily something ridiculously cheap, nor the most expensive one, but I'm open to hear all suggestions as if the budget is not a problem, so I can later decide how much do I want to invest.
Thank you
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