10-minute photos

All the techniques and equipment needed to develop film, create glass plates or print following traditional & alternative methods
Charles Twist
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10-minute photos

Post by Charles Twist » Wed Aug 10, 2011 3:50 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

I often hear about 10-minute photos, typically taken at fairs or at seaside resorts by enterprising Victorians. What was the process they used? How did they have the plate dry and varnished and dry again in so little time?
Regards,
Charles

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Andrew Plume » Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:35 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Hi Charles

there's the possibility that these Photographers took their own 'processing caravan' around from resort to resort - this was the sort of thing that the Americans tended to do and appreciate that this isn't a direct reply to your very valid point. John Brewer and also his colleague Tony Richards who as you know are both on here, will almost certainly be able to chime in with more than I currently can at the moment

the much respected Carleton Watkins (http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/entry ... _1829_1916_/) from memory had use of a railroad carriage which was moved around the western US and then left in a siding - I'm not 100% certain that he used that facility for processing etc etc

you might want to look at the website of the excellent and much respected John Coffer (http://www.johncoffer.com/) for further info etc etc

all best

andrew

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Andrew Plume » Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:48 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Charles

you may find some useful stuff over on this excellent website:

http://motamedi.info/text.htm

best

andrew :wink:

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Neil Barnes » Wed Aug 10, 2011 7:34 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

The usually voluble Hasluck fails to deliver in any great detail on this subject, but does list a couple of interesting items: first, a camera 'Quta' containing a store of plates which drop, after exposure, into a developing tank built beneath it. A series of rubber bulbs and taps enable the various baths to be applied direct to the plate.

The second reference is to the 'Takuquick' and which uses the so-called 'American plates': pre-sensitised ferrotype. The developer and fixer are pre-made (I have the recipes here) and keep for months.

Hasluck indicates exposures of half a second to five seconds or longer; developing in warm weather for ten to twenty-five seconds by visual inspection, rinsed, and fixed for up to thirty seconds. Rinse again, and dry over gentle heat.

I can see that completing in ten minutes or less; even if varnished, a high-solvent varnish would dry quickly.

Neil

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Paul Mitchell » Thu Aug 11, 2011 1:55 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

I seem to recall that someone had an old instant plate camera on the Antiques Roadshow a few weeks back (might be on iPlayer still...). It looked like one of the big metal telescopes often found at the seaside. The small metal plates were held in a cassette which was primed, exposed, then dropped into a tray at the bottom which contained chemicals. The owner even had a set of enameled blank brooches into which the plates were slid into a recess at the back... I was impressed for something that was invented at the beginning of the last century. It was also quite valuable!

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Alex Timmermans » Mon Aug 15, 2011 7:04 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

I recently bought an old album filled with old original tintypes.
One of them has the following info at the back

Lothorp's Ferrotype
Gallery North Eight 8t
Philadelphia

Only the finest ferrotype taken at this studio
All finished in ten minutes


Maybe they made the picture and told the customer to come back in a fewhours to pick it up.
It's almost impossible to flow a plate, take the picture, develope, fix, dry and varnish it in ten minutes.
Even if they could so, the varnish would have been VERY fragile.
When i varnish a plate and a customer wants to take it rigt away, i put the plate in a small box.

Alex

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Andrew Plume » Mon Aug 15, 2011 7:14 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Hi Alex

that's excellent :) - just the sort of input that we're starting to need on this forum from someone who is passionate and understanding about wet plate work, we do of course have the excellent John Brewer on here too + Tony Richards too, aka 'fourtoes'

regards

andrew
Last edited by Andrew Plume on Tue Aug 16, 2011 7:49 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Fourtoes » Tue Aug 16, 2011 7:34 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Heres an example of what Alex is talking about, taken from my blog.

http://fourtoes.co.uk/iblog/?p=2785

Ten minutes for a gem plate.....amazing

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Alex Timmermans » Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:03 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Fourtoes wrote:Heres an example of what Alex is talking about, taken from my blog.

http://fourtoes.co.uk/iblog/?p=2785

Ten minutes for a gem plate.....amazing

Mine is also a gem tintype.
But i think it doesn't matter if it's a very small or a 4 x 5" plate. The time to produce it is the same.

alex

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Fourtoes » Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:13 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Yep, was just showing an example of what you were talking about.

Still, 10 minutes is pretty quick from start to finish, the shooting etc yes but the varnishing takes time to dry properly as you say.

I was reading somewhere that in the UK several hundered million of these plates were shot annually when at its peak. In the States I guess the figure was much more.

I'm always amazed by the quality of some of these little gem plates.

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Alex Timmermans » Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:22 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Fourtoes wrote:Yep, was just showing an example of what you were talking about.

Still, 10 minutes is pretty quick from start to finish, the shooting etc yes but the varnishing takes time to dry properly as you say.

I was reading somewhere that in the UK several hundered million of these plates were shot annually when at its peak. In the States I guess the figure was much more.

I'm always amazed by the quality of some of these little gem plates.

wow,, thats quite a lot !!

I recently bought a small album filled with all kinds if tintypes.
Yes, they are amazingly detailed. But don't forget. we al want to make larger plates.
The smaller they are, the more detailled (look) they have
Untill now i have only once have seen original a 8 x 10 inch ambrotype ( still regret i haven't bought it....)

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Fourtoes » Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:32 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

At one point there was talk of a tax on these plates to raise income for the UK coffers.
I believe this was the case in the US.

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Neil Barnes » Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:48 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

It occurred to me just now that a multi-lens gem camera is automatically a stereo-camera. If you can find a set of the simultaneously produced gem images, it shouldn't be too difficult to find stereo pairs for 3-d images...

Just to be contrary, some late 19th century stereograms - probably most were dry plates, but I wonder about some of the older ones being wet-plate: http://stereo.nailed-barnacle.co.uk/#0.69

Neil

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Alex Timmermans » Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:57 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Neil Barnes wrote:It occurred to me just now that a multi-lens gem camera is automatically a stereo-camera. If you can find a set of the simultaneously produced gem images, it shouldn't be too difficult to find stereo pairs for 3-d images...

Just to be contrary, some late 19th century stereograms - probably most were dry plates, but I wonder about some of the older ones being wet-plate: http://stereo.nailed-barnacle.co.uk/#0.69

Neil
I have seen a multi lens camera at Bievres this year. I believe it had 12 small lenses on it. A beauty, but eeeeeeeeexpensive.

I have an old wetplate camera which also can be used as a stereo camera. it's not fully complete, but it's a restauration project for in the future when i have more time to do such things.........

Alex

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Re: 10-minute photos

Post by Andrew Plume » Tue Aug 16, 2011 4:00 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Hi Alex

I've seen the cameras with 'six gem lenses' but never a 'twelve' set up

regards

andrew

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