very cool .. anyone know anythng of scovill mfc company,, i found one in the basement of a store a bought also a century studio 10A with stand..the scovill for what can tell was was before adams cam in some i am guessing 1860s,, i found a lens cc harrison number 6873 i think from the same time frame. and also an eastman modeal 33a camera.. is there any value to any of theses and would that lens go with the scovill..
This is a camera that I posted around a month ago. I was considering getting it and I pulled the trigger.
It's what I believe to be something along the lines of a Burke & James Grover. I'm not quite sure when it was made, but I'm going to guess a good way of approximating is to see when the company ended, and then guessing a little before that.
Either way, the brochure for the camera seems to put it with it's own special tripod. The way the clamp is designed, it doesn't fit on many tripod heads very well, and it certainly won't really work with a quick release plate. I decided to get a Bosch Contractor's Tripod from The Home Depot. It works well and it's much sturdier than my normal tripod and slightly modified head.
Last edited by alavergh; 14-Feb-2015 at 22:16. Reason: Posting image without flickr tag.
I'm armed with a Wisner 4x5 Technical Field and a lot of hope. I got this. Oh, and my name's Andrew.
Damp morning with 5x7 at Kalaloch, Washington.
My Chamonix 045-f1 shooting Shark Fin Mountain in Antarctica.... that's not snow... it's ice. I had to put the tripod on the rock because gusts of wind would make the tripod slide around on the ice! (no spikes)
Those boulders that you can see in the left of the picture are boulders that have fallen from the mountain from the insane winds these mountains cop (can get up to 110-120 knots!), and then drifted as the ice slowly moves towards the sea with time, as it is fluid. On our trip to this particular mountain, there was a "river" of these enormous boulders, in a freakishly uniform line leading to the mountain for about 5 kilometres. Apparently a Russian plane crashed into these mountains in the 60's, and has since drifted 4 kilometres North with the moving ice.
To give an idea of how thick the ice is, lets just say you're only seeing the cap of that mountain! (somewhere in the realm of 800m thick)
Can't wait to get home and get these sheets developed! 6 more weeks!!!
My ultimate goal at the moment is to bring wet plate down here... logistically it will be very hard, considering as I haven't even started the process yet. I have about 6 months to get up to scratch, so far with lots and lots of reading under my belt (read all the manuals I could find...)... I want to channel Hurley!
I'm going to preface this by saying that I know absolutely nothing about wet plate, except that it is wet, and even in semi cold conditions not even freezing conditions it proves difficult or impossible to get a good pour and image, especially difficult is the difference in temperature between the base material whatever you decide to use, and the actual liquid which will be hotter, and cause issues as well if they do not match temperature, then you have the change in temperature as the plate gets colder moving it from wherever you've poured to the camera... So dry plate might be better?Originally Posted by AlexGard
My Chamonix 045-f1 shooting Shark Fin Mountain in Antarctica.... that's not snow... it's ice. I had to put the tripod on the rock because gusts of wind would make the tripod slide around on the ice! (no spikes)
Those boulders that you can see in the left of the picture are boulders that have fallen from the mountain from the insane winds these mountains cop (can get up to 110-120 knots!), and then drifted as the ice slowly moves towards the sea with time, as it is fluid. On our trip to this particular mountain, there was a "river" of these enormous boulders, in a freakishly uniform line leading to the mountain for about 5 kilometres. Apparently a Russian plane crashed into these mountains in the 60's, and has since drifted 4 kilometres North with the moving ice.
To give an idea of how thick the ice is, lets just say you're only seeing the cap of that mountain! (somewhere in the realm of 800m thick)
Can't wait to get home and get these sheets developed! 6 more weeks!!!
My ultimate goal at the moment is to bring wet plate down here... logistically it will be very hard, considering as I haven't even started the process yet. I have about 6 months to get up to scratch, so far with lots and lots of reading under my belt (read all the manuals I could find...)... I want to channel Hurley!
I've been reading about the alcohol/ether containment.
It's very, very dry down here (Antarctica is driest continent on earth)
Generally when I'd be shooting plates it would be around -1 to -10 environments (anything colder is generally windy and being outdoors with wet plate in those conditions is virtually impossible I'd believe as the collodion would start freezing in a matter of seconds). I'm sure there is an alcohol/ether balance I can find for those conditions.
The ship has a darkroom on board. Poring + sensistiziing is possible, although the plates would only be able to be taken around on board the ship.
Dry plates may be better, but given the chance I'm more than happy to try wet... I think it's doable.
The Bosch tripod is pretty decent. I've got one. I like that little clamp/tripod head. The rail on that camera looks like a black powder rifle barrel with the sight broken off at the front. The black knobs and aluminum uprights look pretty B&J to me.This is a camera that I posted around a month ago. I was considering getting it and I pulled the trigger.
It's what I believe to be something along the lines of a Burke & James Grover. I'm not quite sure when it was made, but I'm going to guess a good way of approximating is to see when the company ended, and then guessing a little before that.
Either way, the brochure for the camera seems to put it with it's own special tripod. The way the clamp is designed, it doesn't fit on many tripod heads very well, and it certainly won't really work with a quick release plate. I decided to get a Bosch Contractor's Tripod from The Home Depot. It works well and it's much sturdier than my normal tripod and slightly modified head.
Hi Alex,
Where are you in Antarctica, I mean where was your "entry point", by the see or just crossing the canal coming from Ushuaya? I find very interesting your journey with a LF camera to this area, but found the tripod you're using too lightweight for this environment due to the wind conditions,
Cheers,
Renato
Last edited by RSalles; 15-Feb-2015 at 19:32. Reason: Forgot something
I am at Mawson Station, pretty far West. We came here from Hobart, Australia, it took us about 13 days from memory to get here. The ice conditions this trip have been favourable and we got into Mawson very easily
We're a working ship, not a tourist ship.
The tripod has actually been really good up until this point. It is very lightweight, and with the Chamonix on top it's as light as a feather. It is surprisingly sturdy, too. I do have a wooden Berlebach tripod as well for when I'm not travelling too far. Although that tripod isn't as sturdy as I'd hoped when handling the 8x10...
My large format camera and lens collection up to this moment
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