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[camz]

Does anyone have any experience with Kodak 50 plates? I'd like to know how plates hold up compared to film as far as the aging process.
Can they be recycled and recoated?

[glennfromwy]

Plates have few advantages and many disadvantages. Pro: For scientific work, they are more precise, because of their absolute flatness. Cons: Plates are fragile and easily broken. They don't travel very well. Plates are heavy. Plates are expensive, aren't readily available and variety is almost nonexistent.
They have no advantage over film for longevity of the image. Longevity of the substrate, however, is very good. If it doesn't get broken.
You can remove the emulsion from plates and recoat them. Maybe Liquid Light or a home brew emulsion. I get some old plates on occasion. Their best use - they're perfect for making ground glass.
_________________
Glenn

"Wyoming - Where everybody is somebody else's weirdo"

[camz]

Does anyone have any experience shooting with old plates? I'm looking for information on exposure increases and processing methods.

[camz]

Anyone know how to tell the emulsion side of unexposed glass plates?

I was hoping that one of the corners would be clipped off - but no.

Both sides feel the same in the dark.

[R_J]

Hi there,

the Kodak 50 plates rate best around ISO 3-6 in daylight (around 5,000 Kelvin temperature).

The plates are stacked in emulsion pairs: once the pack is opened, the number of pairs can be handled and loaded into the plate holder as standard, turning the emulsion side away from the other emulsion side of the plate and inserted emulsion side towards the darkslide.

If you're looking to develop these for an image, you may be very surprised at how well plate emulsion holds over 50-100 years. I've found energetic and slightly compensating developers most useful. Fuji Artdol was my favourite, bringing up images on plates in less than 2 minutes with safelamp inspection. The safelamp tolerance of the plate emulsion makes it favourable for film development with little fogging. Fuji Artdol has been discontinued, although Super Prodol has similar characteristics.

Standard Kodak HC110 starting off with dilution b is also a fine starting point. The contrast can build up rapidly - if you have time, a two step developer would be sublime.

Kind regards,

RJ

[Henry]

The 8x10 glass plates I've handled scan beautifully on the Epson, likewise print nicely (ink jet). Buddy of mine got lots of PTC (Philadelphia Transit Co.) and PRT (Phila. Rapid Transit) company photog. plates, and I printed a few. Amazing detail and tonal range. Ditto the 8x10 sheet film company shots. I imagine that plates would be a PITA to deal with in the camera and darkroom, though.

Later edit: since OP camz asked about longevity of glass plates, as long as you don't break them, and take care to store them properly (they WILL stick together if stacked!) as to temp/humidity etc., they last a very long time indeed. The PRT company shot-glass plate negs I handled are now c. 90 years old and I daresay are just as good as the day they were processed.

[glennfromwy]

The old school method of finding the emulsion side in the dark is to moisten a finger tip and pick up the plate by a corner. The finger will tend to stick to the emulsion side, but not the bare side. It's tricky, but it works.

[camz]

Thanks for the tip!

I tried the moist finger method, and it worked even on really old plates.