ChromaGraphica Double Dry Plate holders - Kickstarter Campaign

Now repeat after me. I will not add barely achievable stretch goals and set the whole project back 12m, I will not change design two weeks into production etc etc:)

Yup, there are definitely no stretch goals :0) The design is also 99% complete, pending CNC prototypes from the manufacturer (we already have several printed versions), which will give us more time to deal with any issues with the moulds themselves before manufacturing begins.
 
Yup, there are definitely no stretch goals :0) The design is also 99% complete, pending CNC prototypes from the manufacturer (we already have several printed versions), which will give us more time to deal with any issues with the moulds themselves before manufacturing begins.

Good man.
 
Well, in case anyone has missed it, we've only gone and done it!

I had a call last night with Jason and his colleague who has come on board to help with the moulding design (as that's his day job!) and working with the manufacturer. The 4x5 holder design is almost complete after we came up with a slightly different way to mould it, which will give us more flexibility in making future dedicated sheet film holders without having to re-tool entirely. The 5x7 design is around 90% complete, and the 8x10 model will be completed by this weekend which means we're not a million miles off getting some prototype holders machined to test the handling properly.

All in all it's looking good so far and I'll post some more updates as soon as we have the finished models.
 
For anyone that hasn’t seen the campaign update from Jason today, we received photos of the prototype parts from China today. These have been CNC machined from ABS, rather than moulded, and will be sent to myself and Jason to assemble, and make sure everything goes together as planned.

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Apart from machining twice as many centre plates as we need for 2 holders(!), these components make up two double sided 4x5 dry plate holders.

I particularly like the look of our combined branding on each side of the holders [emoji6]

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Now I need to be patient and wait for the parts to arrive, assemble the holder, video the steps to do that, check that the final unit works as deigned then give the go ahead for the injection moulds to be machined...not much work to go then! Oh, I also need to design the new packaging and work with a couple of manufacturers to cost the reducing adaptor plates for each size holder. Other than that, just chilling [emoji23]
 
I haven't posted an update to this thread for a bit. Latest status is that the 8 aluminium moulds are being CNC'd (as of last week), with a provisional estimate of having a moulded prototype 4x5 holder by the second week of January. Once the moulded parts are all signed off, I then need to record an assembly video, along with the likelihood of several FaceTime calls with the manufacturer, to make sure they're completely ready to begin large scale assembly.

At the same time, I'm working on the packaging design for all 3 holders. We're keeping the packaging simple with an 18% grey main colour and simple black images/text. I don't have any designs to share yet but should have something by the end of the week.
 
What's a Chroma with no colour???? Maybe the dark slides could be in Chroma colours? ;)
 
Am I the only one who thinks Cluedo when purple is mentioned? Professor Plum in the Darkroom with a Lens Spanner.

Anyway, well done so far, but try to enjoy Christmas and the New Year as a holiday.
 
Am I the only one who thinks Cluedo when purple is mentioned? Professor Plum in the Darkroom with a Lens Spanner.

Anyway, well done so far, but try to enjoy Christmas and the New Year as a holiday.

Cheers Stephen. I’ve been enjoying Christmas with my family at the same time as I’ve had the printers running to print both Chroma 4x5 components and Snapshot prototypes so I’ve been able to do both.
 
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Here’s ChromaGraphica 4x5 double dry plate holder #1 [emoji1303] Jason assembled it last night so we can give some feedback to the manufacturer. Nothing major, just a couple of tight tolerances, then they can start full scale production.

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These are the 5x7 and 8x10 holders that I received yesterday. I haven’t assembled them both yet but again, they’re pretty much ready to go bar a couple of tolerances.

It’s starting to get very close now, should hopefully have production running in the next 2 weeks, followed by assembly/packaging 2 weeks’ after that.
 
I haven’t updated this thread for a bit, I lose track of everywhere I need to update!

The 5x7 and 8x10 Kickstarter holders are all assembled and packed, and should be getting posted out from the manufacturer next week! The 4x5’s were partway assembled before we spotted an issue with the moulded parts so they’re currently being re-assembled now, after an update to the moulds. I’m hoping they will be going out by the end of next week though, so it shouldn’t be too much of added delay.

Alongside the Kickstarter holders (around 450 in total), myself and Jason will also be receiving around 600 assembled retail holders, ready for us to make available through our own websites, as well as looking at retail outlets in Europe/North America.

Not too much longer now!
 
Mine arrived too.
 
I've so far had 2 out of three parcels.
 
If you use a bit of furniture polish on both sides of the slide (and wipe it off!) they’ll slide much more smoothly.

Yep, good advice, a bit of spray furniture polish works a treat on all dark slides to make em slide easier. ;)
 
And the third and final installment arrived today.
 
I received three big boxes today....

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I need to go through all of these holders, and make sure they’re all up to spec, as they were all assembled by the manufacturer in China. Once I’m happy with them, a batch will be heading to Paul at Analogue Wonderland and the rest will be added to my own website [emoji1303]

Jason is currently training up his new workforce in New England to begin the assembly of the remaining 2500 holders there [emoji3]
 
As a matter of interest, given the sizes you're showcasing here, how is demand split between miniature, medium format and large format (aka 5x4, 5x7 and 10x8)? Is 5x7 making a comeback?
 
As a matter of interest, given the sizes you're showcasing here, how is demand split between miniature, medium format and large format (aka 5x4, 5x7 and 10x8)? Is 5x7 making a comeback?

In the campaign itself, 5x4 was the clear winner, with something like 300 holders purchased. Following on from that 10x8 was next, followed by 5x7.

With regards to retail, I’ve currently got interest in even amounts of all three, and I think Jason is looking at 5x4, followed by 10x8, so 5x7 is still third favourite.

I’m currently assembling a pair of 12x10 wet plate holders, they even make 10x8 look small [emoji23]
 
If this has been covered and I’ve missed the postings then please forgive my duplicating the topic.

I have here two boxes of 5x4 j lane plates ( or at least I believe that’s what they are as they are still in the light tight bag that they travelled in from the retailer.)

One should be iso 2 ( ortho) which i know can be opened under a dim red safelight.

The other is iso 25 which afaik is panchro thus needs to opened in complete darkness.

Question:
When in complete darkness, how does one know which side of the plate is emulsion covered?
Is there some sort of indicator ‘notch ’ cut into the edge of the plate ?
If not then please explain how to ensure correct orientation when loading into a plate holder.

Cheers
 
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You will have to design a make an emulsion spinner to coat them next. it is much more even than pooling.. And coating with a rod is probably beyond most peoples ability.
 
If this has been covered and I’ve missed the postings then please forgive my duplicating the topic.

I have here two boxes of 5x4 j lane plates ( or at least I believe that’s what they are as they are still in the light tight bag that they travelled in from the retailer.)

One should be iso 2 ( ortho) which i know can be opened under a dim red safelight.

The other is iso 25 which afaik is panchro thus needs to opened in complete darkness.

Question:
When in complete darkness, how does one know which side of the plate is emulsion covered?
Is there some sort of indicator ‘notch ’ cut into the edge of the plate ?
If not then please explain how to ensure correct orientation when loading into a plate holder.

Cheers
Plate are packed face to face with narrow card edge separators and Papers between pairs.
The easiest way to check which is the emulsion side is to bite them .the emulsion side sort of sticks to your tooth.
If they have an antihalation backing, this would usually feel rougher than the Emulsion side.
In practice it is all very easy.
I shot hundreds of Glass plates before and after college and never once got it wrong.
Though the most difficult are unbacked plates. as you do not have a double check.
 
Plate are packed face to face with narrow card edge separators and Papers between pairs.
The easiest way to check which is the emulsion side is to bite them .the emulsion side sort of sticks to your tooth.
If they have an antihalation backing, this would usually feel rougher than the Emulsion side.
In practice it is all very easy.
I shot hundreds of Glass plates before and after college and never once got it wrong.
Though the most difficult are unbacked plates. as you do not have a double check.

Alternatively....you can feel for the notch in the top right, with the emulsion facing you;

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Alternatively....you can feel for the notch in the top right, with the emulsion facing you;

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That only works on cut film there is no notch on glass plates.

Slow "ordinary" or "Ortho" plates can be seen and loaded under red safelight conditions and the backs and fronts will look different.
 
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That only works on cut film there is no notch on glass plates.

Slow "ordinary" or "Ortho" plates can be seen and loaded under red safelight conditions and the backs and fronts will look different.

Did you read the link I shared, to Jason's site (who makes Pictoriographica glass plates) and image above?

Jason's plates have the notch in the top right corner, to aid with orientation in the holder.
 
Did you read the link I shared, to Jason's site (who makes Pictoriographica glass plates) and image above?

Jason's plates have the notch in the top right corner, to aid with orientation in the holder.

That I not normal for glass plates, though I understand some have tried thick polyester sustrate instead. To put a notch in standard thickness glass plates it would have to be ground. I wonder why they bother. It was never a problem. When they were common place. The edges were quite sharp as well as they were just natural cuts.
 
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That I not normal for glass plates, though I understand some have tried thick polyester sustrate instead. To put a notch in standard thickness glass plates it would have to be ground. I wonder why they bother. It was never a problem. When they were common place. The edges were quite sharp as well as they were just natural cuts.

Jason grinds the notches in so people know which way to fit them without guessing. I can’t see advising people to bite the plates to work out the correct orientation going down to well with the majority of photographers!

He also cleans up the edges of his plates before coating them to remove any sharp edges.
 
Jason grinds the notches in so people know which way to fit them without guessing. I can’t see advising people to bite the plates to work out the correct orientation going down to well with the majority of photographers!

He also cleans up the edges of his plates before coating them to remove any sharp edges.

I forgot, we are in the age of wimps.
What I do not like about his offering is emulsion over run on the back of his plates.
That was never though acceptable.
He also warns of sharp edges.

However it is nice to know someone is making glass plates again.
 
I forgot, we are in the age of wimps.
What I do not like about his offering is emulsion over run on the back of his plates.
That was never though acceptable.
He also warns of sharp edges.

However it is nice to know someone is making glass plates again.

I’m sure there’s nothing stopping you continuing to bite glass if you feel the need to.

Jason hand coats all of his plates, and ships around 10,000 per year. I imagine you previously used plates supplied by large corporate manufacturers, with large corporate budgets in comparison. Some over run of emulsion is not the end of the world.

He warns of sharp edges as he’s selling glass plates. If he didn’t include that warning, I could imagine someone going old school and biting the plate, then complaining that it’s sharp ;0)
 
I’m sure there’s nothing stopping you continuing to bite glass if you feel the need to.

Jason hand coats all of his plates, and ships around 10,000 per year. I imagine you previously used plates supplied by large corporate manufacturers, with large corporate budgets in comparison. Some over run of emulsion is not the end of the world.

He warns of sharp edges as he’s selling glass plates. If he didn’t include that warning, I could imagine someone going old school and biting the plate, then complaining that it’s sharp ;0)
Up to about the late sixties some glass plates were still available from Kodak and Ilford in the UK but I am sure that there were other makers around the world I did not use any after about. sixty two.
Glass lantern slide plates were available even longer because the NHS used them.
 
I forgot, we are in the age of wimps.
:ROFLMAO: Perhaps we've simply come to realise that cetain old age beaviours may not be so beneficial to our health;)

What I do not like about his offering is emulsion over run on the back of his plates.
I've yet to find out, but it sounds like it's no big deal to wipe clean of the "glass" side of the plate

He also warns of sharp edges.

Good job as no doubt todays "wimps" would be trying to make claims:rolleyes:
However it is nice to know someone is making glass plates again.

Very much so and I'm looking forward to experimenting with the 5x4 plates that I have to see which I prefer ( iso 2 ortho or iso 25 panchro) , then i'll be purchasing the larger versions to use in my 5x7 and 10x8 holders.

The resulting images will no doubt be very marmite and one will have to switch off to any comparison with standard sheet film ( wet prints or inkjet prints), but that in itself is what makes the whole experience exciting and hopefully worthwhile.
 
Next question to which I haven’t found an answer to on the pictoriographica site.

Reciprocity!

For both speeds, ISO 2 and 25

Anyone able to offer advice??
 
Next question to which I haven’t found an answer to on the pictoriographica site.

Reciprocity!

For both speeds, ISO 2 and 25

Anyone able to offer advice??

Ok, Jason’s just sent me this;

“yeah here's my rule of thumb:

ASA 2 plates: Add 50% time after 45 seconds. Double the time after 2 minutes. At 1 hr he'd probably want to add 2 stops. (This is before adding whatever additional compensation needed for time of day, time of year per the Technicals and Tips page on my website).

ASA 25 plates: Add 50% time after 2.5 seconds. Double the time after 15 seconds. At 1 hr I'd say add the same 2 stops as a starting point. (This is before adding whatever additional compensation needed for time of day, time of year per the Technicals and Tips page on my website).”
 
Ok, Jason’s just sent me this;

“yeah here's my rule of thumb:

ASA 2 plates: Add 50% time after 45 seconds. Double the time after 2 minutes. At 1 hr he'd probably want to add 2 stops. (This is before adding whatever additional compensation needed for time of day, time of year per the Technicals and Tips page on my website).

ASA 25 plates: Add 50% time after 2.5 seconds. Double the time after 15 seconds. At 1 hr I'd say add the same 2 stops as a starting point. (This is before adding whatever additional compensation needed for time of day, time of year per the Technicals and Tips page on my website).”
Cheers Steve and Jason of course ;) (y)
 
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