Here are some portraits I recently made on Ilford F.P.4. dry glass plates which expired circa 1950. The box doesn’t have a visible expiry date that I can find but the label design (see below) was dated by Nicholas Middleton who has done some research about it. His excellent photo blog contains a wealth of information about various old film stocks, cameras and glass plates he has tested. Following his advice I rated these glass plates at ISO 5 which gave me an exposure time of approximately 2 seconds in shade. The Ross reflex camera I used has been serviced and inside is a date of manufacture from 1915 written in pencil. The camera is in excellent condition considering it’s over 109 years old. I still have two more plates to develop and six left to use.
[Tech info:] Ross reflex, Zeiss 11.5 inch f6.3 lens, Ilford F.P.4. glass plates @ ISO 5, developed in Rodinal 1+100 for 1 hour semi-stand (slow agitations at 30 mins).
Did the camera came with that plate holder? (Judging by the different surface finishing of camera and holder I guess not.)
I am always reluctant to buy (wooden) cameras when they don’t come with plate/film holder, as finding those at a later point in time is difficult up to almost impossible.
My question is: Did some standard back then existed that makes the holders interchangeable between cameras?
I guess not, but can be I don’t know about it.
Great question. No, the plate holder is from an unknown maker but it fortunately fits this camera. There wasn’t a “standard” design of plate holder but there were some designs which were more popular than others. For example, holders designed for some Thornton Pickard cameras can sometimes fit other makes of camera but you’re right, it is sometimes almost impossible to match holders with a camera if they didn’t come together. I’ve had a few holders modified to fit a camera I wanted to use but it was very expensive work to have done. I don’t recommend it unless you have an idea of what it will cost in advance.