Ease of converting a 1/2 plate to modern 5x7?

Greetings all! This may be a crazy question but has anyone

converted a old 1/2 plate camera to accept modern 5x7 holders?

It appears that the 1/2 plate dimension is very close to 5x7 film

so perhaps if one had a 5x7 back and adapted it to fit where the

old 1/2 plate back was it might be a cheap way to get into 5x7? I

know, I know. The older plate cameras didn't have alot of

movements but they appear to be the ancestors of the more

recent age of field cameras. Any light to be brought to this topic

would be helpful. Thanks!

The 5x7 cut film holders will fit directly on a half-plate camera

without any adaption. However, there will be a little cutoff on the

long end of the negative so its more like 5x6.5".

I just processed my first negatives shot with my old Gandolfi half

plate field camera. if you take into consideration the edges of the

negative that are lost by being coverd up by the little groves that

the film slides into, the difference in terms of actual image area is

very small. what's nice is that you have a little more room to handle

the negative. I was actually thinking about having Gandolfi convert

my 1/2 plate camera to 5x7 but now i don't see the need.

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As far as film holders. If the camera you have has a spring back then

you should be fine. half plate and 5x7 cut film holders

are 'basically' the same size. I say "basically" because i had to

sand my plastic riteway holders down just a bit to get them to slide

in and out of the camera back easily. the older wooden 5x7 holders i

have work with ease.

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Older half plate cameras i have seen have the flip up style back

where the ground glass is hinged and flips out of the way to allow

insertion of the plate holder. if you have one of these you may be

out of luck since a modern film holder will not fit (as far as i

know). in this case there may be issues regarding the film plane in

relation to the plate plane. the ground glass may be located for

focusing where the glass plate plane is located rather than where a

piece of cut film would be located.

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You might be able to have both the back and the holders modified for

film rather than plates. if you want to use glass plates kodak still

makes them in a few emulsions, but they are expensive.

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My camera was originally designed for film rather than plates. the

half plate film size was popular in england up through the 70's.

Ilford still makes HP5 plus in half plate size, but you have to order

it from a store in england. Its something i have thought about since

my camera came with a bunch of half plate holders.

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good luck

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karl french

Gandolfi's cost to convert one of tehir half plate cameraas to 5x7

is very reasonable. My recollection from when I last checked a

few months ago was less than GBP 50.

Thanks for the informative replies so far. The camera is a type

that has the flip-up GG. Being kind of a tinkerer it appears it

might be possible (I won't say "easy") to just replace the whole

plate back with a vintage wood 5x7 spring back with GG or

even build the GG frame and springs right onto the existing

opening on the camera. I certainly don't want to do a hack job

on this sweet old thing but it is usable and I don't want to hunt

down the plate holders and convert them. I'm not sure if it's a

simple conversion on the holders or not. Anyone have any

thoughts on converting holders from plate to film?

Tad; Check the light-tight trap on the film holder and make sure that it allows your holders to fit snuggly. If not you will have to

route the camera back to match the holder. Also, the dimension from

the outside of the holder to the film plane should be 3/16", on 5x7's, with film in the holder. You can find tin sleves to fit inside of the plate holders that will accept film but the 3/16" dimension will be affected.

Take the camera back apart (if you haven't) and see how well a modern film holder fits the back. You might need to cut a piece of wood to block the old light-tight slot and route a new one. Good luck on you quest!

Karl