Folmer Graflex glass pressure 8x10 holder

I am hoping to adapt a Folmer Graflex glass pressure 8x10 film holder to use as a wet plate collodion

plate holder. Has anyone done that? Is it an easy conversion? Seems like it would be!

 

Anyone know where I can find one?

 

Thanks!

 

David<div></div>

I have done it. It wasn't difficult but you should be aware that the registration on these

holders is not standard. I put a 4/4 plate reducer (made of 1/8" acrylic) into one but had to

shim the corners to get it to the normal .26" depth

Hello Dave and Jason;

 

I have several of these film holders but have never used them. I didn't know about the non-standard back focu. Would an efective solution be to replace the glass on one of these holders with a ground-glass (with the frosted surface to the rear. that is, facing the photographer) and remove the pressure back? The film is in contact with the glass when used normally. It might mean that you would have to use asecond spring back with the ground glass removed. This way you could easily move back and forth between sheet film and wet plates in the same shooting session by swapping the spring back on your camera. Regards;

Drew Bedo www.quietlightphoto.com

Another thing to consider. I acquired a couple of these (similar to) holders myself for the

same intended purpose. I found that they were slightly wider in the 8" dimension, outside

of holder and would not slide into a conventional 8x10 camera back designed for film

holders. I am considering cutting them down.

I realize this is an old thread but I will post this for those that find this thread in future. I have several of these plate holders and like them very much. I found it much easier to make a new back for my 8 x 10 camera which would accommodate both the different distance to film plane and the slightly but annoyingly larger external dimension. This wasn't a spring back but one where I used four toggles to hold the plate holder in place. The focussing glass swung outboard as many other older camera designs did.