Found better plate rack

All from the start i have been using the plate racks made by IKEA.

Cheap and good. But when shooting larger plates and storing them in the IKEA rack it somehow became a little tricky
( because of the weight) as i mainly use 3mm glass.

Yesterday we were at Amersfoort ( beautiful place btw) and we entered a store called Dille & Camille.
I found there plate racks and i can say, they are MUCH sturdier than those from IKEA. Thicker wood and better build quality

They are selling 2 sizes and i bought the smallest one.

Still suitable for holding up to 13 plates which is more than enough for me.

Price ?  Euro 16,95.

Not as cheap as those from IKEA but still cheaper than making it yourself.

Here you can find the one i bought : http://www.dille-kamille.nl/nl/shop/c/113/a/3191/afdruiprek-rubberhout

Strangely they only sell the small one through the internet.

In the picture you see plates of  10,5" square.

"Hat"lines

27x27cm BGA

exposure time 4 sec.
KCN fixer
Hermagis 300 mm petzval f4.0 wide open

The first use of my new mobile darkroom

This morning we finally had some stable weather. Not much sun, but at least no rain....

So we, my friend Ferry and me, headed to "Heeze castle" which is situated in a beautiful environment.

There is a little river at the back of the castle which is surrounded by beautiful large Beeches and ferns. Very nice diffuse light.

But on the other hand extremely long exposure times up to 22 minutes !!!.

Never had exposure times that long before.

Tried some different (wide angle) lenses but i still prefer shooting with petzvals.

I just love the shallow dof. Also for landscapes

This one is a 18 x 18cm alutype.

Exposure time 12 secs.

Hermagis petzval aprox 12 inch f4

The working table is even bigger than the tent itself.

The tent is awsome. Within just one minute it's fully operational

Ferry finally had the opportunity to pour his first wet plate. He's talened! 

Made some red windows for my new tent

Because the windows of the Eskimo tent are made of transparent plastic

i had to find a solution to make them red.

Recently a visited a customer of mine who has a welding factory.

For protecting the eyes of the visitors they were using welding curtains.

These were made of UV protective red flexible plastic.

That turned out to be the perfect material for those window covers.

With some practising i managed to stitch them myself

and i am more than happy with the result.

My new mobile darkroom has arrived

Last Saturday my new "Eskimo" mobile darkroom arrived.

The package was much smaller than i expected.
The tent is stored in a carrying bag which is about 120 x 20 x20cm.
Estimated weight is about 10 kilo.

So all very easy to handle.

To set up the tent won't take you more than 2 minutes !!!

Only 5 "pulls"are needed to make it ready for use.

Size is about 170 x 170 x 210cm.

So for me it's no problem standing upright without touching the ceiling of the tent.

It has two doors and 4 windows which will have to be covered with some red material.

The only backdraw is that it has many sewing pinholes.

But for that problem there is also a perfect solution : performix Liquid electric tape.

It took be about half an hour to close al the pinholes. great stuff.

Should be a perfect material to close pinholes from a bellows.....( will give it a try)

Can't wait to go outside.......

I WANT IT TO STOP RAINING !!!!!

"Jan", 11x11" clear glass ambrotype

11x11" Clear glass Ambrotype
exposure time 4 seconds
Hermagis 420 mm 4.2 petzval lens
KCN fixer