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Post by Bruce E. Rathbun on Jul 8, 2022 14:19:35 GMT -6
For Sale – 14x17 Wet/Dry Plate Camera I posted this camera for sale many months back. The buyer decided not to pull the trigger at the last minute. The camera comes with a 24” Artar lens that covers the full 14x17 image size. There are several masks for the following formats: 14x17,14x14, 11x14, 7x17, and 8x10. The camera has never been used (minus setting it up a few times to check out the views). The camera is a tailboard design and was built by Mark Voce. I have the original crate and can ship it for the actual cost. This camera needs a good home. Let me know if you have any questions.  Here is a link to the images of the camera on my website. www.berathbun.com/news |
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Post by mjwellman on Jul 8, 2022 16:05:45 GMT -6
That is a beautiful camera. I have looked at Mark's website in the past. Wet plate is a process that continues to haunt me. I am intrigued and can see some benefits but I keep asking myself do I need to go down another rabbit hole? A couple of questions for you. What is the bellow draw of this camera? and on a personal note curious as to why you decided not to use it? Have you been doing wet plate for awhile? BTW, I enjoyed your webpage very much.
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Post by Bruce E. Rathbun on Jul 9, 2022 9:20:42 GMT -6
Thanks for the reply. I should have mentioned that the bellows are 33" with 37.5" from the front standard to the back standard. A 35" Artar would work with a small amount of bellows draw. Wet plate is a great process that I was learning when I bought this camera. I had been practicing the wet plate process on my 8x10 for a few months. I knew there would be a significant wait for the camera, so I ordered it early. After 6 months of shooting wet plate, I decided that it was not for me. What I did find is the love for shooting dry plates. With wet plate photography I wanted a very old school tailboard camera. The switch to using dry plates allows me to use a more conventional ULF camera. I realize that this style of tailboard camera can shoot both wet and dry plates, yet using dry plates for me is a different style of shooting. I'm looking for something a bit more portable for dry plate work. So my intent is to sell this lovely camera and buy a more conventional 14x17, or 16x20. If for some reason the camera does not find a new home, I'll be content to use it for shooting dry plates. Thanks for the kind words about my web site.
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Post by mjwellman on Jul 9, 2022 17:52:54 GMT -6
Bruce,
Thanks for getting back with me. It sounds like I may be a year or two behind you. I just ordered some wet plate supplies to try it out. I have shot a few dry plates without much success but I am interested in learning the two processes to see if either one speaks to me. It we had all the film and paper from the 50 years ago I'm not sure I would be going down this road but I do like the fact that you can make your own plates and not worry about special orders or film/paper ceasing production.
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Post by Bruce Rathbun on Jul 10, 2022 6:08:22 GMT -6
Hi Michael. I’m not registered here yet, so I was unable to see your profile. I checked out your Instagram page and few links in the web. Very nice work. So I’ll tell you specifically what was not working with my wet plate experience. I was starting to get nasty headaches. I have an idea where it was coming from, yet it really does not matter at this point. I took all of the precautions, including a heavy duty respirator, gloves and still got headaches. I then turned my approach to dry plates and found what I was looking for. I bought a box of 5x7 dry plate negatives from Jason Lane. I found the process very easy to work with. I’m testing the dry plate process now with carbon transfer prints on glass. Ultimately I would like to make my own dry plates from scratch. I want to go really old school and create everything by hand. A 14x17 dry plate negative is now around $55. That’s not terrible as I don’t measure my shots in frames per second, more like plates per day. For now I’ll stick to working with 5x7 glass plates printed on carbon transfer to glass. I do wish you all the best with your endeavors. Please stay in touch and let me know how you make out.
~Bruce
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