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Thread: Rittreck View, Whole Plate & Holders

  1. #11

    Re: Rittreck View, Whole Plate & Holders

    This thread got me curious so to add to the confusion I measured my holders. The Rittreck holders are 7 23/32" wide (196mm) and measure 9 3/8" (238mm) to the locking side of the rib (the far side from the taped end - I think this is the side that really counts). My old Eastman holders are 7 3/4" wide (196.85mm) amd measure 9 5/16" (236.5mm) to the locking side of the rib. There is no problem with the width of the Eastman holders in the Rittreck. Where things get more interesting is that the film window of the Rittreck holder is 8 1/16" (204.8mm) whereas the window of the Eastman is 8 5/32" (207.2mm). So when withdrawing the darkslide, thus pulling the holder out to its locking point on the rib, the Eastman window is shifted 1.5mm towards the rib side compared to the Rittreck holder and, since its window is 2.4mm wider, the rib side of the window ends up 3.9mm closer to the rib than the Rittreck holder. I guess I need to measure the width of the window on the back to see if that makes any real difference in the image area.

  2. #12

    Re: Rittreck View, Whole Plate & Holders

    My promised follow-up on my Rittreck/Chamonix experience has no surprises. I received two whole plate holders out of China in 4 days total. They slapped very nicely into the old Rittreck whole plate back.

    My first negative was fogged on the edge where the end of the holder snugs into the back. A much more thorough examination of the back with a holder in place and a flashlight crammed into the front, under a dark cloth, showed light leaking around the holder itself. Maybe the Rittreck Hope film holders are thicker than the Chamonix and therefore afford more resistance to the coiled springs in the Rittreck back? Anyway, my solution -- I am no carpenter and pretty much all thumbs -- was to lay a piece of thick black cloth on the end of the back with a film holder in place, and then to use residue-free duct tape to hold that cloth on the end of the back. I taped it so no tape spanned the full width of the back as that would of course prevent the back from reseating properly when the holder was withdrawn. It is arguably a temporary fix at best, but the old back is so hard to find and so relatively frail (somewhere between balsa and pine, I would say), I do not want to attack it with hammer, drill, screws, etc. And if duct tape could hold an old car together (as it did a 1990 Pontiac Transport van for the last three years I drove it) it will do for a view camera, too.

    I will keep the dark cloth over the back when pulling the dark slide and making the exposure, as well. I anticipate no further problem with fogging. Alas it was so windy this past weekend -- the first chance I had to photgraph since the fogged sheet -- I could only consider it a waste of time to take the camera out (and I have no interest in still-life arrangements or the interior of my rather depressing rented hovel).

    I am fairly sure the Rittreck back has not been modified (that is, widened) -- there are no signs at all of modification, with the wood smooth, aged, stained and painted all in a condition one would expect from an unaltered piece.

    My conclusion is that buying a Rittreck whole plate back without Rittreck holders was a risky and impudent throw of the dice. (I had the 5x7 back just in case...) But in the end, whether Chamonix altered their holders, or Rittreck altered the back at some point, given the discrepancy we have seen in measured width of the back opening, the Chamonix holders fit perfectly, and they are so delightful and well-made and light.

    Maybe I dodged one on this whole venture, but I will quote Lope de Aguirre in Herzog's "Aguirre, The Wrath of God," Fortune smiles on the brave and spits on the coward.

    And the weather forecast does not seem to forebode gale winds this weekend in the Austin area, so I'll be heading out to a little town in the hill country named Lago Vista with my camera, two holders, a box of 24 sheets of HP5, and a changing bag. Yee haw! as we are reputed to exclaim down here in Texas. And sometime next month, before it gets really warm and the spring grade and high school field trips start, I'll have my whole plate set up in front of that most sacred and glorious spot in the western world, the Alamo.

  3. #13
    Aspiring LF photographer
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Tokyo, Japan
    Posts
    32

    Re: Rittreck View, Whole Plate & Holders

    I'm not sure what the etiquette is about posting more than ten years after the last post, but I found this thread so helpful (ten years after) and in that spirit of archived information being helpful, I'll add a little information. I live in Tokyo, Japan and buy things off of the auction site of choice here -- Yahoo Auction. In the past two weeks I purchased a whole plate back with an extender cone and a set of three "Rittreck View" whole plate holders. First, about the holders, I measure their width at 196.5mm, very close to the figure given by Chauncy Walden. Unfortunately, the whole plate back I bought -- which is made of light wood and painted silver like a Rittreck -- is only 195.5mm wide. I'm going to have to shave my three holders, or try and disassemble and shave the guides on my WP back. It would make sense -- given the widths of other holders mentioned and measured in the thread -- to widen the back. But, this back seems as delicate as DancingSalome's back. I wish I had access to a Bridgeport milling machine. I could clamp the back down and use a side mill on the guides on the back without disassembly. I'll add that I have one more WP holder. Unnamed, although it looks like a Tachihara Hope to me. It is only 191mm wide. Seems there was quite a bit of variation.

  4. #14
    Moderator
    Join Date
    Jan 2001
    Posts
    8,640

    Re: Rittreck View, Whole Plate & Holders

    Quote Originally Posted by tdicorcia View Post
    [FONT=Arial]I'm not sure what the etiquette is about posting more than ten years after the last post,...
    It's perfectly fine! Thank you for going to the trouble to find a relevant thread to add your comments - you're making life easier for everyone else who is seeking to understand the Rittreck WP setup.

    Question: are your holders in the black with red darkslides style that is typical of Tachihara WP and 6x10 holders marketed for the Rittreck View?

  5. #15
    Aspiring LF photographer
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Tokyo, Japan
    Posts
    32

    Re: Rittreck View, Whole Plate & Holders

    Good to know. This is a very valuable database for me.

    Both of my holders are black with red sides on the darkslides. One is labeled Rittreck View. The other (narrow) one is unlabeled, and with smaller outside dimensions. Both are for WP film, known as yatsugiri (eighth cut) in Japan.

    The Rittreck View holders I just purchased (3 for about $50) came in boxes. The box is stamped STF Sheet Film plate holder (toriwaku) 8th cut (164mm x214mm).



  6. #16

    Join Date
    Jan 2021
    Posts
    206

    Re: Rittreck View, Whole Plate & Holders

    I have just fallen down the Rittreck whole plate holder rabbit hole myself and discovered the two different sizes. In my case the larger holders fit the wp Rittreck View camera back well (not tight there is some movement) while the smaller holders have about 1cm gap.

    I read somewhere (this site I think but cannot find the thread) that the back and holders were made by Tachihara for Rittreck and Rittreck specified a larger width to make them incompatible with those from other vendors (including those with the Tachihara brand).

    My plan is to shim the smaller holders on each side to make them fit the Rittreck back.

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