"Beater" 4x5?

 
goamules said:
OK, you are getting a lot of strange answers here that are wrong. I have shot wetplate almost weekly for 8 years.

The wetplate silver bath is simply silver nitrate dissolved in water. It is not nitric acid, and is only slightly acidic on the PH scale, or practically neutral. A wooden or plastic or metal camera can last for decades doing wetplate (I have several that are over 130 years old). It doesn't "eat" them up, if you clean up after shooting.

A 4x5 Graflex makes a decent camera. Get a crown, you won't need the focal plane shutter on a Speed. I used a Graflex for 2 years, exclusively for wetplate. You cannot get a 4x5 sized plate easily out of one, more like a quarterplate size.

Movements are one of the main reasons to shoot Large Format over 35mm. Saying "you won't use movements" is like saying "you won't use 4th or 5th gear in that car much." You should be using movements, but you don't have to. A Graflex has few movements.

Wetplate is no more inherently dangerous than starting a lawn mower, spraying bug spray on an anthill, or varnishing an old dresser. There are a lot of misconceptions there. No, don't drink your chemicals, and don't pour silver nitrate in your eyes. Don't smoke around solvents. Got it?

The biggest mistake you can do is to try to learn wetplate by asking a series of questions to strangers on the internet. Read that again. The only way to learn it quickly and safely is to take a workshop, or buy a manual from someone like Quinn Jacobson, John Coffer, or others. Learn from an expert, not a bunch of Internet rumors from people that you don't know. It's a complex craft, and like glass blowing or learning to fly an ultralight aircraft, you want to get some bona fide training. You will hear 5 different answers to each question on Facebook, but on the Collodion.com website (which I moderate) you'll get better answers.
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Garret I know you do some nice wet plate but I've been shooting it for some time too and have a degree in chemistry. I certainly wouldn't use silver nitrate in anything metal that I care about. It's very corrosive and it is made from silver and nitric acid. I retains much of the corrosive properties of nitric acid although not as strong in the 10% solution sensitizer. Diethyl Ether vapor in strong enough concentrations is explosive as gasoline but more so.
 
I think we're both right. Yes, if you slosh silver nitrate all over any material it will eventually corrode. But I have used wooden and metal holders for weekly use for several years, without one spot of corrosion. You just have to wipe the silver drops off after every plate.

On ether being flammable, you are right there too. So are many household cleaners, as well as the gasoline sitting in our hot garages in metal cans and old lawn mowers. But you don't see houses exploding up and down the street every week from it. I have NEVER, that is NEVER, heard of anyone having a catastrophic explosion or fire while wetplating. I'm sure there is someone out there by now, when I started only a dozen or so did it worldwide. Now there are a dozen in every state.... But again, I don't go around telling people the sky is falling and they are going to blow up their neighborhood. Because they won't unless they try very hard.
 
UNfortunately a lot of people aren't as careful as you and I. I'd rather be overly cautious than to see someone hurt.
 
jwcat said:
I just finished a Maine Media workshop on Wet Plate and the instructor suggested using such a camera for starters. There are some interesting cameras on eBay, but I trust people here and would like your input on a camera for this use. 4x5 is the smallest I would care to go right now.

Thanks in advance,

John
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The reason the instructor suggested a beater is because with Wet Plate, the back of the camera is eventually going to be destroyed. So don't start with an heirloom...

Rolfe
 
I cannot offer any advice regarding the wet-plate process itself, but having seen the name ANSCO kicked-around, I wish to offer a caution.

During or after WW II, ANSCO started using a plastic-coated bellows construction on their folding and view cameras.

It does not age well. The plastic coating becomes brittle, flakes-off, and allows massive light-leaks.

I have an otherwise nice post-war ANSCO 5x7 field camera, that is waiting for new bellows. They will run around $250 from Gore-tite.

The Graphic press camera is probably the cheapest / most reliable camera to pick-up... any of the pre-WW II cameras will be a crap-shoot in terms of true condition of the bellows, standards, focusing-back, etc. Especially if you're buying from e-bay or elsewhere on-line.

If you can thoroughly inspect a camera before committing to buy, you will be far ahead !

Good luck ! :)
 
Luddite Frank said:
I cannot offer any advice regarding the wet-plate process itself, but having seen the name ANSCO kicked-around, I wish to offer a caution.

During or after WW II, ANSCO started using a plastic-coated bellows construction on their folding and view cameras.

It does not age well. The plastic coating becomes brittle, flakes-off, and allows massive light-leaks.

I have an otherwise nice post-war ANSCO 5x7 field camera, that is waiting for new bellows. They will run around $250 from Gore-tite.

The Graphic press camera is probably the cheapest / most reliable camera to pick-up... any of the pre-WW II cameras will be a crap-shoot in terms of true condition of the bellows, standards, focusing-back, etc. Especially if you're buying from e-bay or elsewhere on-line.

If you can thoroughly inspect a camera before committing to buy, you will be far ahead !

Good luck ! :)
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Chinese bellows off ebay are very inexpensive. I put a red one on my 5x7 Deardorff and it's excellent quality but does sme of solvent which is nothing compared to te ether used in collodion.

One of the reasons to go with something like the Ansco is the large lens board. If you want to use vintage lenses you need a camera with a big board for many of them. The Graphic is very limited because of the board size.
 
Old thread and I have never done wet plate photography, but that is the internet for you!

I would suggest an old wood camera for the reasons that have been mentioned. And would go with a 5x7 if I was getting into something like wet plate because the images are large enough to frame, but small enough to be reletively cheap to make.
 
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