Originally Posted by
Tim Meisburger
Don't you take the back off to change orientation? The fact that their is no wear in the groove may just mean it was never used to hold a blind; that the groove itself is a vestigial reminder of an earlier time when sliding backs were common in portrait studios and a groove for a sliding blind would allow shooting school portraits with two portraits on each sheet. For example, for a class of 32 you could take eight holders, shoot 16 portraits on the left side of the holders, open the back and shift the slide, then shoot 16 more on the right side.
A real sliding back allows you to shoot two portraits on the same sheet without changing the direction the camera points to, meaning the only adjustment needed for pupils sitting in a chair might be rise or fall, whereas using a screen would require you change the direction of the camera either left or right when you shift the screen. But a screen is a lot cheaper than a sliding back, so could be a cheaper alternative. To work with gravity, the groove on the top would need to be deeper than the one on the bottom so you could slide it up into the top groove, then drop it into the bottom. If the grooves are equal depth, you could still use something sprung in place. Or, I could be totally wrong!
I don't think it is to prevent warpage, as I'm pretty familiar with cabinetwork, and I've never heard of doing that, and also a back is held in place in all four corners, so not much chance to warp.
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