Zeiss Maximar 207/3 photos

Here are some more photos of the Civil War event taken with the 1920's Zeiss

Ikon Maximar 207/3 6.5x9cm glass plate camera with Dominar lens. These were

taken with a roll film back, on Fortepan 100 in Rodenal 1:50. Thought you might

like to see some more of what these cameras can do.<div></div>

Not bad for cameras approaching 100 years old.

Yes, not bad at all for a WW I camera.

Thanks Minh, of course YOU would know how great these old cameras were, you are converting some of them. Did you get to run some 4x5 through your new creation yet?

Good shots Cliff. Are Dominars triplets? The shots are pretty attractive except for a bit of softness in them. Is there any haze between the glas elements? I remember having this issue with Skopar on my Avus, and everything got razor sharp once the haze was cleaned out.

Yes, the Dominars are triplets, and yes they are clean. They are very sharp. The softness is the smoke. There were so many fires burning in that camp you could hardly see half of the time. The smoke spot in the open field was a cannon going off. It's hard to see too much at 72 DPI though.

Nice shots, Cliff. They gave a certain vintage look about them that suits the subject well. I used to have a Maximar like this with roll filmholder but your shots are better than any I aever got with it!

Thanks Colin,

 

I really did want to capture the vintage look and I think I got it pretty close. With the old type emulsion combined with Rodinal. The Rodinal is very unique, and gives the film that vintage grain growth, that edge, while at the same time making the whites creamy and right to the point of blowout. I don't know of any other combination that gives that look, without hand making collodium. I usually mix up a batch of the Rodinal and let it sit out for quite a while till it darkens up a bit. I also pre-wash the film to get rid of all the dye before the Rodinal touches it.

The look of many US Civil War (and other contemporary) photos is a mixture of good sharpness due to the size of the glass plates they were using and also the low exposure range resulting in blown skies and highlights. Difficult to reprduce. I have seen quite a few photoshopped attempts at reproducing a vintage style which invarialy look wgat they are - PS'ed modern shots. Yours have neatly avoided that.<div></div>

Here is another stereoview.

And another...<div></div>