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Prologue:
Photography can be an amazing adventure, especially if you try to resurrect
some pre-historic camera that used to belong to your Grandpa. I can´t
put an old camera on a shelf simply for display like many other collectors do
- I like to use them and often the results are surprising. For example, my Leica
III(1934) takes better photos than my Minolta Dynax 700si(1995).This is a story
about going back to another time - to a century in which photography was truly
an art form... the "art of painting with sunlight". Let's step approximately
120 years back into the past...
The idea
The concept of actually using an old dryplate camera began to stir within me in the year 1995. Another hobby of mine is to go on Western-councils and while on one of my trips, I realized that while the period clothing worn by people at these locations can be very authentic, all photos of them are taken with modern cameras. Why not use an authentic, antique camera instead? A wooden camera with glass plates...and magnesium flash! The photos taken during the American Civil War have a special kind of magic - a spirit that no modern camera can ever convey in the prints that it can produce. Only an authentic camera made during that same century could possibly bring these magic moments back!
Only a camera like Mathew Brady had used!
The idea begins to grow The idea remained vague until July, 2000- I won an auction
at eBay and bought a wooden camera that uses 13x18 cm (approx. 4,5
x 6") glass plates. The camera was in a very good condition
- a little cleanup and it was like new. It was a surprise, but the
camera was made in1969 and built in Russia!The functions were the
same as her old predecessors of the 19th Century, but the knobs
and front plate were made of plastic. The first step was to replace the plastic front plate with an authentic wooden plate for the lens. Then, I fitted the unstable wooden tripod with new screws and washers for a better and safer stand. The first test under the famous 'black curtain' looked good: The image was projected upside down on the ground glass! |
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Where to get the plates from?
The camera seemed ready to fire :-) But the next
problem was to get some real photoplates. My first idea was to make
myself a few collodion-wet plates,like some "old style photographers"
in the USA do even to this day. But some of the needed chemicals
- especially the ether and the gun cotton for the collodion coating
- was hard to find and if that was not enough, using guncotton requires
a special licence for explosives in Germany.. Amazingly, I searched for only30 minutes before finding a source
for brand new glass plates on the Internet! ( http://www.photo-grande.de
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Dr. Richard Leach Maddox |
Houston, we have a problem...
The next problem quickly made itself known....the plates were only available in 100 ASA speed and my camera had no shutter ( there was an aperature within the lens, but no shutter mechanism at all ). In the 19th Century, the plates used an exposure time of around 2 to 5 seconds ( or more ) and the "shutter" was the cap of the lens. A plate rated at 100 ASA seemed impossible to expose with this old method. Even at F/32, the plate would become hopelessly overexposed.
Hunting for a shutter
Wasn´t there an old pneumatic shutter oneBay? Too late! The auction was over and another collector beat me to it. Using the search word "verschluss" (shutter) got no useful hits oneBay, so I began to search the Photographica section item by item and eventually I found an old Kodak camera in a very dilapidated state: the complete film-back was missing, the bellows contained big holes and cracks and the lens was missing... but the starting price was only 30 DM and the camera had a shutter. This was my big chance...
Resurrecting the shutter The first step was to unscrew the backplate and make a scan of the interior mechanism, which would serve as a guide during the reassembly process. Then, I dismantled the old Kodexs hutter completely....I collected all screws,washers, levers, springs etc. and stored them in labeled tin boxes. After the shutter was almost completely taken apart, I found the source of my problem: The shutter blades consisted of 5 segments. At one axis, one of the segments was lying over another. This "double-blade" was simply too thick to provide clear movement.... and it had been this way since1908! I removed the offending blade and reassambled the shutter. Now it worked fine for the first time - all functions were operating properly |
Two scans of the KODEX shutter |
A new housing for the shutter The next job was to build a housing for the shutter. I set it between the lens board and the lens in a little wooden box. The box was made light-tight with some black velvet and the release was extended with a wire that continued out of the box. The maximum aperature of the shutter was F/11 with my lens because the shutter came from a camera with a smaller negative format...but now I have the ability to use F-stops 11 to 32 at 1/25 sec, 1/50 sec....also B and T. The camera was now fitted with the wooden box between the lens board and the lens. It contained the old Kodex shutter. |
The camera after the reconstruction |
On we go...
The next problem: Just who will develop the exposed plates?
In the meantime, the question about the developing of the exposed plates came
up. Which modern lab can manage to imitate a process from the 19th Century?
I asked some photo dealers and druggists, but the most common answer was, "No
chance! This may be a job that only my grandpa's grandpa could do!".
The only remaining possibility was to do the job for myself.
The main problem was that I don't know much about photographic chemistry. My
oldest book that contained some information about building a darkroom was a
children's book - one that I had purchased when I was 9 years old. This old
book proved to be the first stepping stone to building my own darkroom.
At eBay( a good place for finding used darkroom equipment ), I won an
auction for a complete darkroom: enlarger, color processor,measuring tools,
bottles and nearly everything I needed to process many types of film. I built
up a darkroom in the cellar, but I still had to learn about using darkroom equipment
and chemicals...
Yet another problem: Where can I find camera plate cassettes?
Meanwhile, I began a new search on the Internet to find wooden plate cassettes for my camera. Only one cassette was included when I purchased the camera and I needed a few more. At http:///www.photographica-world.de I found some 13x18cm cassettes that would probably fit into my camera. After some work - grinding down some big cassettes, adding some wood shims to some cassettes that were too small and screwing on brass edges for the holding mechanism, I ended up with 6 double-cassettes, which would be good for 12 photo plates on each outing with the camera.
Out of the Dark and Into the Light: First successes in the darkroom
In the meantime, I learned to develop film. I used two old Leica-III cameras
for my test and the first results looks very good. I learned how to use
the enlarger, too. Much of the photographic paper ended up in the trash can,
but I did manage to learn how to make a
nice print!
Planning the first "sharp shots"
In October, 2000 the photoplates arrived in the mail and I got all of my
equipment together for the first test-shots. Meanwhile, in the darkroom I had
learned to develop B/W and color too. So I thought,"It must be easy to
develop a simple 100 ASA B/W photo plate...", but at this point I was very
naive - and this was very far from the truth!
The day was rainy and dull, so I stood under a balcony on the terrace totake the pictures. The last remaining problems were the small image-circle and the lack of sharp focus on the edges. At this time, I still thought that many older lenses cause these problems and this might even be the reason for the oval frames seen on so many old photos.
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November 8, 2000: The first plate was destroyed by using the wrong developing
process :-(
The time had finally come for the first shot on one of the expensive photoplates.
My parents kindly agreed to model for my first classic photo. I set up the shot
and made one exposure for one half-second at F/32. With the exposed plate in
hand, I ran into my darkroom. Unfortunately, I had no data sheet for my plates,
but after inquiring at Photo Grandé, I was told that I could use the
developing data sheet from other classic B/W film like the "Ilford FP4"
or "Orwo NP20".I found the data sheet for the FP4 and started the
developing procedure in total darkness.
First, I put the plate in the developer -Tetenal Ultrafin Liquid( 1:20 ratio
) for 12 minutes. Then, I placed the plate in the stopping bath for 5 minutes
and after this I fixed it for 7 minutes in Tetenal Superfixand then directly
in the rinsing bath..
Lights on!
WOW!The picture was on the plate! A little bit underexposed, but it was a success...at
least for approximately 30 seconds! Huh??What the hell was going on? The emulsion
on the plate began to dissolve in the water!Small bubbles started to destroy
the picture!
"This can't be happening....."
I grabbed the plate on the edges, and nearly the complete photographic emulsion
on it dropped as a dark solution into the water. Only a small strip emulsion
on the edges remained...!
"F...!....Shit!....(etc..)
Something was obviously not right... I must be doing something wrong during
the developing process. Was the rinsing bath too warm? Is it possible that I
didn´t fix it enough? Was the light the source of the destruction? I had
no idea...but I knew that I needed the correct data before I could try again.
I wrote a e-mail toWephotain Wernigerode and asked for the specific data sheet
for my plates
November 11, 2000 : The Second Trial... After a few days, Wephotasent me the requested data sheet for "So...don't give up. It's a sunny day today", I said
to myself and began to prepare myself, my camera, the darkroom and
my parents ( they stood for my photo again ). :-) We were
all ready for the next trial Lights on! Yes, the picture was good, better than the disastrous first try.I rinsed the plate again in my washing tub, paying close attention to the water temperature....I kept it at 20°C to prevent any dissolving due to hot water temperatures. I waited for the ugly bubbles to re-appear on the plate... but nothing happened. It seemed then that my second plate would actually survive the first 30 seconds! :-) |
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Pictures for The Eternity...
I know..."for the eternity" is a bit of an exaggeration, :-) but
my second plate survived without anynoticeable dissolving for the full 30 minutes
during the rinse with water. After the rinse, I added a wetting agent to the
water (Agfa Agepon ) and then let the plate dry. This took 4 hours. A little
bit dust was found on the emulsion - perhaps dust from the air. This is
a problem that I hope to correct with some improved drying techniques.
The picture had a good exposure, but the image-circle was still too small -
only 60-65% of the plate was used. To improve things, I decided to shorten the
shutter housing in order to bring the lens and the shutter closer together.
But, even with it's small image circle, my second classic picture was a resounding
success.
Just like Mathew Brady!
A few days later, I made a contact print of the plate and toned the print with sepia toner for that antique brownish color.
Appendix - from December 3, 2000:
I have shortened the shutter housing approximately 1,2cm and the image-circle
is now bigger. First tests show that at infinity-focus and F/32, only 2cm of
the plate-edges are out of the range of the image-circle. New, sharp shots
with a plate are unfavorable at this time because Autumn and Winter are rainy,
windy and dull seasons.
Appendix - from December 27, 2000: Sloppy work on the lens!
The camera is ready now... but is it really 100% ready? The suspicion that
all is not OK with the camera is rumbling in my mind.... The image-circle was
still too small in spite of my shortened shutter-box. The soft edges...can this
really be normal when using older cameras? The lens is not very old...are the
Russians really such sloppy lens manufacturers? My other old cameras, a Voigtländer
Avus and a Voigtländer Bergheil will project completely sharp images on
the ground glass with no black edges outside of the image-circle. These take
excellent photos on 9x12cm film. I also have an old 185mmDaguerrotypelens with
Waterhouse-stops ( in excellent condition, too ). It must have been built around1860and
I installed it temporarily on the lensboard;
it, too, creates a sharp image on the complete ground glass with no soft edges.
The front element of the Russian lens was flat as a plank. I have never seen
this on any photographic lens before...was this really normal?
No! Of course not! A sloppy repairman must have reassembled the lens the wrong
way -the front element was backwards!A true wonder that the first exposure was
usable... I removed the element and placed it back into it's bezel with the
convex side out. After a test, the image on the ground glass was clear and sharp
within into the edges.
I seems that I could be awarded the " Sloppy Silver Medal of Honor"
too, because I needed six long months to discover the error
;-)
What´s next...
...and what will follow next time? The Great Glass Plate Adventure is not
over...it's just begun!
Other experiments ( such as tests with the shortened shutter housing ) will
follow. The prints are another chapter too. There are so many old, sometimes
nearly forgotten techniques for making a print:Ambrotype, Argentotype, Kallitype,
Albumen-Printing and many, many others.
At this time my favorite is the Argyrotype,an improved version of the old Argentotype
or Kallitype Process, invented by Mike Ware(GB). An Argyrotype kit is available
at http://www.phototec.de
The new Argyrotype is easier to handle than it's predecessor, the Kallitype,
but still complicated enough to cause misadventures in the darkroom.
Another project that I'm contemplating is to make my own photo plates. There
are some liquid photographic emulsions on the market, such as the "Work
photographic Emulsion" from Tetenalor "Black Magic" from MACOin
Hamburg. These emulsions are designed to coat ceramics, textiles, etc. You then
expose an image onto the coated item under an enlarger.
Why not coat a glass plate, then use it as a negative in my camera as an orthochromatic
media? The plates can be cut by my local glazier and the extended exposure times
more closely resemble genuine 19th Century plates - potentially more authentic
than the relatively modern 100 ASA plates.
Carsten Corleis für Classic
Cameras
(Translation by Arno;
Thanks!!!)
June to December 2000
Helpful links
Online-Auction: |
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Photo plates (Manufacturer): |
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Cassettes: |
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Argyrotypie-Set: |
Product names mentioned in the article are protected by the individual companies. They are not recommendations, but just a list of the products I used. Equally or even better results can probably be achieved by using products from other companies as well.
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exposure directly on photgraphic
paper-
The same picture, scanned
and reversed on my computer