Show Us Your Camera

This is the half-plate that I cycled down to Provence with. Make not known. Home-made 4 section tripod. Taylor Hobson 7 1/4" lens from about 1895-6. This & two wider TTH lenses go into a sandwich box with foam cutouts. No shutter. Bellows also by Custom Bellows.

I was following the 1908 route of T.E. Lawrence who was a keen photographer in his youth. He probably took his father's R&J Beck half-plate with him.

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nickl said:
This is the half-plate that I cycled down to Provence with. Make not known. . . .

. . . . was following the 1908 route of T.E. Lawrence who was a keen photographer in his youth. He probably took his father's R&J Beck half-plate with him.
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Looks like a fantastic trip! Did you make any images to share?
Half plate must be a handy size for this. Tripod looks splendid too, lightweight and possibly sturdier than mine. Have you put markings on it to help you level and tilt? Mine has inelegant white paper tape for now.
 
Reginald S. said:
Wendy, what means whole plate lens in focal length?
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To cover a whole-plate/full-plate image size ( 6½" × 8½" 216 × 165mm) I believe I'm going to need a 10" lens, 270-300mm focal length. Perhaps a little less.
Have read that early portrait photographers like even longer lenses, but I doubt my field camera and Thorton Pickard shutter would take much more weight than that. Right now I'm working comfortably with an f/7ish aperture lens so that will probably be enough.
 
AnalogueWendy said:
To cover a whole-plate/full-plate image size ( 6½" × 8½" 216 × 165mm) I believe I'm going to need a 10" lens, 270-300mm focal length. Perhaps a little less.
Have read that early portrait photographers like even longer lenses, but I doubt my field camera and Thorton Pickard shutter would take much more weight than that. Right now I'm working comfortably with an f/7ish aperture lens so that will probably be enough.
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It's a rule of thumb and there are exceptions. The Rapid Rectilinear lens was introduced in 1866 by John Henry DAllmeyer, this is still the era of wet plat use, although the first dry plates were used in 1871 it was another 5 years before they became commercially available.

The Petzval designs that predated the Quick Rectilinear lenses had poor coverage, but some were quite fast f4 and f3, and even f1 admittedly a 4½ inch short focal length, which was special order, for photographing children. A well corrected Petzval like my 10" f4 Dallmeyer Quick Acting Portrait Petzval is designed for 5x4 and Cabinet size, which is typically 4¼ x 6½ inches / 108 by 165 mm, so it will cover half plate and probably be OK with 7x5. The image circle vignettes on my 10x8 camera showing it won't cover whole plate.

The Wray Rapid Rectilinear lens I've fitted to my Houghton Duchess is marked 8x5 it's actually a 10" lens, the two Whole Plate RR lenses I have are both 12".

By around 1890 newer optical glasses brought major improvements in lens design, and so my 9" f6 Dallmeyer Stigmatic coves 8 x 5 inches at f6 and 12 x 10 at f16. The 10.7 inch Eq. Focus covers Whole Plate at f6 and 15 x12 at f16, these are small light lenses. There are similar improved designs from other lens makers, and these were sold with field cameras from around 1891 with the introduction of the Zeiss Series I Anastigmat Protar. The Stigmatic was designed ton 1895 by Aldis,then working for and advising TR Dallmeyer on newer lens designs, to compete with the Protar.

What am I concluding, if you get a Rapid Rectilinear lens then 12" for Whole Plate, but there are other options that cameras like yours would have been sold with.

Ian
 
Lenses . . . it's complicated. I still have plenty to learn here.
I'd happily consider a more moden lens too - it's a working camera
 
David M said:
That would be a 300mm - standard length for 10x8".
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With more modern lens designs coverage/angle of view, and edge and corner sharpness, was greatly improved, this was a result of new optical glasses from the Zeiss glass works in the early 1890s. First the Zeiss Protar, then the 1892CP Goerz Double Anastigmat, later branded as Dagor. A 12" Dagor does cover 10x8 at full aperture 12x10 at f16 and 17x14 at f45

However not all early anastigmat lenses had the coverage of the Protar and Dagor, and earlier Rapid Rectilinear lenses definitely don't unless wide angle design.

Ian
 
AnalogueWendy said:
Looks like a fantastic trip! Did you make any images to share?
Half plate must be a handy size for this. Tripod looks splendid too, lightweight and possibly sturdier than mine. Have you put markings on it to help you level and tilt? Mine has inelegant white paper tape for now.
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I've put some photo comparisons on the Black & White forum.

It's a manageable size, a good balance of size and resolution.

The only markings I've put on the tripod are four equi-spaced pencil lines on the bottom leg to divide it up. I sometimes needed a chain like yours has, to get a level start point & stop the legs skidding.
 
The chains made a huge difference on mine. Secure, more stable and as you say, a level, balanced start point.
 
AnalogueWendy said:
Looks like a fantastic trip! Did you make any images to share?
Half plate must be a handy size for this. Tripod looks splendid too, lightweight and possibly sturdier than mine. Have you put markings on it to help you level and tilt? Mine has inelegant white paper tape for now.
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I have a Berlebach wooden tripod but it also lacks any indications as to how for the legs are extended and, indoors at least, I like to start off with the same extension for each leg, even thought the tripod has a levelling head. I've looked at some self adhesive thin steel rules, 10mm wide, but have yet to take the plunge. I'll need three of course.
 
A friend took this picture yesterday during a break in a portrait session. Reminded me of all the lens advice on here, and made me smile. Not LF, although the lens would cover more than 4x5 if I had something sufficiently sturdy to support it. Its a London Stereoscopic company 8" f/4 (ish) portrait lens.
 

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My two LF cameras. Unknown English brand half plate (bought at auction for a few pounds and tidied up) and MPP MkVII, bought in lovely condition from a careful owner on here.

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There’s a kind of very narrow self-adhesive tape, available in all sorts of colours and widths. It’s used for making charts. I’ve stuck this on my own Berlebach in useful places. A ruler might be tricky to read in low light from a standing position.
 
A recently-acquired Horseman L45 monorail camera, on duty at Rumbling Kern in Northumberland. I also have an Intrepid 4x5; the Horseman is nicer to use in every way except for weight. The ability to set some movements and know that they are not going to change unless I want them to is quite a revelation.

You can see from this image, that the bellows leave little room for movement with the 90mm lens mounted; a set of bag bellows is on my shopping list.

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I purchased the camera for £200 from Ffordes, including a carrying case and a second, longer, rail.
 
This is how my Berlebach ended up. Of course the millimetre marks are overkill but it seemed and easy way to add a ruler. I fixed one on each leg.

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I have a similar tripod, unfortunately it is a 3/8" fit tripod designed for a 35mm cine camera, or TV camera, it's not a Berlebach as it was made in Australia.

Ian
 
Surely, the 3/8 thread is intended to attach a head, not a camera? It seems very common to me. Mr Spencer has used an adapter for the Manfrotto hexagonal plate, but there are adapters for 3/8 to ¼ readily available. Or have I misunderstood your comment?

I may not be alone in having all sorts of plates, all to fit different heads, bought as my needs changed. I’m hoping the current fashion for Arca-Swiss plates will be the final variation.
 
I've not been able to seerate the head from the column, I need to get a tilt arm made.

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It needs stripping down, cleaning, lubricating. It's a heavy duty beast designed for professional use.

Ian
 
That is quite a beast and nice piece of engineering judging by your photographs.
 
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