Conley 8x10 camera (Page 2): What is a falling plate camera. I have two 4X5 view cameras but have never heard of a falling plate camera. Dennis...

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

rb61 wrote:

I have a 4x5 falling plate camera. It has been collecting dust. I look forward to learning more about experimenting with paper.

Thanks

What is a falling plate camera. I have two 4X5 view cameras but have never heard of a falling plate camera.

Dennis

Toby Cole Loc: Newport, Oregon

Thank you for the information, Andy, appreciate the tip for getting the ASA up a little higher;0)

AndyH wrote:

I did this many years ago when I had an active darkroom. It fit perfectly into the sheet film holders. It’s a little bit faster if you expose the emulsion side, maybe ASA 10, but the results through the paper backing were better IMHO. The calotype analogy is a good one.

Andy

Toby Cole Loc: Newport, Oregon

Thanks for sharing James.

Toby Cole Loc: Newport, Oregon

Thanks

dpullum wrote:

Here is a start:
https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/sun-sensitive-paper-experiment/

Toby Cole Loc: Newport, Oregon

Thanks for sharing.

Manglesphoto wrote:

I did the same thing in an 8X10 Pinhole camera using cut film holders, the contact printed.Here are three images from 1980 using single weight paper for the neg. I photographed the prints using a copy stand to get the digitals.

aellman Loc: Boston MA

AndyH wrote:

I did this many years ago when I had an active darkroom. It fit perfectly into the sheet film holders. It’s a little bit faster if you expose the emulsion side, maybe ASA 10, but the results through the paper backing were better IMHO. The calotype analogy is a good one.

Andy

I used the 4x5 paper-as-film technique in a pinhole camera made out of a
shoe box. Between the tiny bit of light admitted by the pinhole and the low
ASA of the paper, there were some long-ass exposure times. But it worked
great. Tripod and changing bag mandatory.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Some years ago, I ran into a photographer working one of those costume "Old Tyme" photo operation at a big agricultural and commercial fair. This fellow had an impressive operation as to costumes and props. Unlike some of the Polaroid operators of that era, he shot with an 8x10 authentic antique wooden portrait camera and use DIRECT POSITIVE PAPER in the film holders. The images were incredibly nice with an excellent gradation of tones. I assume the was a rapid developer and fixer for that material. He the toned the prits in selenium toner and delivered them in 8x10 oval mattes! He had 2 assistants dressing folks and someone in the darkroom- the entire studio and lab was housed in a RV with an outboard stage.

I don't know if that paper is still available anywhere. I never enquired as to the manufacturer- possibly Kodak at the time. I was shooting lots of 8x10 transparencies in my commercial photography business and though I would like to experiment with that paper but I never go around to it. I did my test shots on 8x10 Polaroid in my city- still have the processor- film's gone of course!

Breaking News- I've just been told that ILFORD is producing IMAGO Direct Positive Paper in 12x16 sheets Glossy RC! There is also a HARMAN brand that produces a similar product in 16x20 sheets. Interesting.

James Slick Loc: Pittsburgh,PA

dennis2146 wrote:

What is a falling plate camera. I have two 4X5 view cameras but have never heard of a falling plate camera.

Dennis

A falling plate camera uses a magazine to hold film plates, the plates are dropped after exposure (caused to fall) and a mechanism advances the next plate. This as opposed to loading plates in 1 at a time as one does on a view camera. Falling plate cameras have some type (usually reflex) finder, As the magazine is in the camera back, one can't view the "film plane" directly. Large format cameras today are all view cameras, But that wasn't always the case.

Bipod

Manglesphoto wrote:

I did the same thing in an 8X10 Pinhole camera using cut film holders, the contact printed.Here are three images from 1980 using single weight paper for the neg. I photographed the prints using a copy stand to get the digitals.

Love the look of pinhole. Pinhole is much sharper in larger format--less diffraction.
Since they are committed to very long exposures anyway, paper has always been
popular with pinhole photographers, given it's lower cost and ease of handling.

Bipod

E.L.. Shapiro wrote:

Some years ago, I ran into a photographer working ... (show quote)

That's good news!

Bipod

Has anyone tried flashing the paper to make it more sensitive (increase the ISO)?

(To work, flashing has to be done immediately before exposure.)

Bipod

In Afghanistan, street photographers use a camera that contains the developer and fixer trays inside the camera:
the "kamra-e-faoree" ("instant camera"). These are typically used to make photos for government IDs.

A piece of photo paper is exposed, developed and fixed. Then this "negative" image is placed in a holder built '
into the front of the camera, and photographed to make a positive image.

Development is done by inspection!

How to use an Afghan Box Camera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18-5xaVfhR8

The Taliban has outlawed photography in the parts of Afghanistan it controls
(currently about 30% of the districts), which wasn't good for the photographer's
business.

Austrian artist Lukas Birk has made it his mission to document and attempt to preserve these
wonderful hand-made wooden cameras and the street photographers who use them.
http://www.lukasbirk.com/afghan-box-camera-project/

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Bipod wrote:

Has anyone tried flashing the paper to make it more sensitive (increase the ISO)?

(To work, flashing has to be done immediately before exposure.)

I tried flashing paper to reduce contrast from problematic negatives- not the greatest results! But... successfully flashed paper to solarize it- I used an old Kodak 10" safelight housing and replaced the filter with a sheet of "sign white" Plexiglas and hooked it up to a darkroom timer for various exposures.

I flashed slowe finer grain film, as an experiment, to increase ISO to circumvent using high speed very grainy films. I had to put a dimmer on my flash box. So..you get a higher intrinsic fog level that boosts shadow detail a bit but it also degrades the highlights. Black cat in a coal mine kinda things. It worked to some degree but I never took it further. As film a developers improved, grain on higher speed film became less of an issue.

Nowadays folks gripe about a bit of "noise" when shooting digital at 6400+. They never had to shoot Kodak 35mm Royal-X Pan (recording film). It was 3200- straight out of the box without pushing. The police used it for surveillance work. It had grain the size of mothballs on an 8x10 enlargement. Pushed to 6400- pointillism!

dennis2146 Loc: Eastern Idaho

James Slick wrote:

A falling plate camera uses a magazine to hold film plates, the plates are dropped after exposure (caused to fall) and a mechanism advances the next plate. This as opposed to loading plates in 1 at a time as one does on a view camera. Falling plate cameras have some type (usually reflex) finder, As the magazine is in the camera back, one can't view the "film plane" directly. Large format cameras today are all view cameras, But that wasn't always the case.

Thank you so much for getting back to me with a great answer.

Dennis

Toby Cole Loc: Newport, Oregon

Thank you