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Welcome to the whole plate camera blog-er-whatever. This will be a place where information will appear on an occasional basis dealing with whole plate format cameras. This old format, nominally a rectangle of 6-1/2 inches by 8-1/2 inches, was long thought dead. Many think it only refers to cameras that take old wet or dry glass plates. But this format actually continued to flourish well into the age of film. It began to lose popularity in the US about the same time that the flappers starting getting a little long in the tooth. But with the resurgence of interest in alternative processes, this format has been resurrected by a few oddball iconoclasts who recognize that it represents the perfect ‘Goldilocks’ view camera format: not too small to see the groundglass and not too large to hump over a mountain. It makes a wonderful contact print, yet is still small enough to fit in commonly available enlargers (and now film scanners). The lenses are not the size of sealed beam car headlamps, and many lenses that are used on either 5×7 cameras or 8×10 cameras are perfect matches. I intend to post an occasional photo, and occasional technique or equipment thread, and any lyrical odes to the format that get sent to me. This will not be a read-it-every-day blog, but it might be worth checking out once a month. Hope you find the information useful.+
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