Is half plate film still available?

[Pete Andrews]

Prompted by a question on this forum, I recently attempted to find out if any ma ker still made half-plate (4.75" x 6.5") film and drew a total blank.Agfa an d Ilford have the best availability, with 10x8", 5x7" or 13x18cm, 4x5", quarter- plate and 2.5x3.5" available between them.Kodak commonly list only 5x4, and 10x8, with 5x7 available in a more limited number of films, and as for Fuji? Hah ! Forget it!In short, none of the major manufacturers lists half-plate at al l. Yet a recent book on Rollfilm and View camera photography by Roger Hicks (no relation I hope, John) states that 5"x7" and 13x18 cm are in fact two separate s izes, and further, that half-plate film is still available in a few emulsions. T he implication being that half-plate (and 127 rollfilm!) is still a perfectly vi able format.I thought at first that this might just be due to outdated infor mation, but the publication date of the book is this year, 2001.SO. Is the i nformation in the book total rubbish, or is there some secret supplier of obscur e film sizes that I should know about.

[fw]

Pete ; I use a half plate camera - the first Toyo metal field, albeit fitted with a 4x5 back. I did come across some half plate film holders in a secondhand shop in Tokyo last year, and remember thinking what a great format! I am also sure that in a 2000 Ilford catalogue, they listed one or two emulsions in half plate - it may be worth checking with Ilford directly.

[Pete Watkins]

Silverprint in London might be able to help.

[Dave Willison]

You might try contacting Filmforclassics.com. They market odd rolllfilm sizes and carry some sheetfilm. Their web page does not show half-plate, but they may provide custom cutting. You might also be able to cut your own film, possibly from 5x7. Somewhere on this forum there is a discussion of cutting 4x10 from 8x10 using a jig or a rotary trimmer. I suspect that the book you are citing was probably published in 2001 but concieved much earlier. In fact, if you take a look at View Camera Sept./Oct. 1997, Roger Hicks has an article entitled "Plate and Other Old Film Sizes." Hope this helps.

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[David F. Stein]

It is easy to make a jig: I use the Fiskar cutter-not the greatest, but until a Rotatrim comes along. Among those who will custom cut film are PhotoWarehouse in Oxnard CA (125 Pan Portrait) and Lotus View Camera in Austria. It cna be done ...

[David F. Stein]

It is easy to make a jig: I use the Fiskar cutter-not the greatest, but until a Rotatrim comes along. Among those who will custom cut film are Photo Warehouse in Oxnard CA (125 Pan Portrait) and Lotus View Camera in Austria. It can be done ...

[Pete Andrews]

Thanks everyone.If all the readers of this forum can't come up with a ready source of half-plate film, then it must be well and truly dead.If I can find an address for Roger Hicks or Frances Schultz, then I'll politely ask them not to include such misleading information in future issues of the book.

[fw]

Pete ; I have just found one advertised source for 4.75 x 6.5 film ; Mr Cad are advertising Maco 100ASA in this format - GBP6 for 10 sheets, and GBP17 for 30 sheets. Good luck......