Photographic plate
This article's lead section may be too short to adequately summarize the key points. (September 2019) |
Photographic plates preceded photographic film as a capture medium in photography. The light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was coated on a glass plate, typically thinner than common window glass. They were heavily used in the late 19th century and declined through the 20th. They were still used in some communities until the late 20th century.
History
Glass plates were far superior to film for research-quality imaging because they were stable and less likely to bend or distort, especially in large-format frames for wide-field imaging. Early plates used the wet
A view camera nicknamed "The Mammoth" weighing 1,400 pounds (640 kg) was built by George R. Lawrence in 1899, specifically to photograph "The Alton Limited" train owned by the Chicago & Alton Railway. It took photographs on glass plates measuring 8 feet (2.4 m) × 4.5 feet (1.4 m).[1]
Glass plate photographic material largely faded from the consumer market in the early years of the 20th century, as more convenient and less fragile films were increasingly adopted. However, photographic plates were reportedly still being used by one photography business in London until the 1970s,[2] and by one in Bradford called the Belle Vue Studio that closed in 1975.[3] They were in wide use by the professional astronomical community as late as the 1990s. Workshops on the use of glass plate photography as an alternative medium or for artistic use are still being conducted.
Known as | Imperial | Metric |
---|---|---|
Quarter-plate | 3¼ × 4¼ in. | 83mm × 108mm |
Half-plate | 4¾ × 6½ in. | 120mm × 165mm |
Full-plate | 6½ × 8½ in. | 216mm × 165mm |
Scientific uses
Astronomy
Many famous
Many solar system objects were discovered by using photographic plates, superseding earlier visual methods. Discovery of
Glass-backed plates, rather than film, were generally used in astronomy because they do not shrink or deform noticeably in the development process or under environmental changes. Several important applications of
Physics
Photographic plates were also an important tool in early
Electron microscopy
Photographic emulsions were originally coated on thin glass plates for imaging with electron microscopes, which provided a more rigid, stable and flatter plane compared to plastic films.[7] Beginning in the 1970s, high-contrast, fine grain emulsions coated on thicker plastic films manufactured by Kodak, Ilford and DuPont replaced glass plates. These films have largely been replaced by digital imaging technologies.[8]
Medical imaging
The sensitivity of certain types of photographic plates to ionizing radiation (usually
Decline
The earliest flexible films of the late 1880s were sold for amateur use in medium-format cameras. The plastic was not of very high optical quality and tended to curl and otherwise not provide as desirably flat a support surface as a sheet of glass. Initially, a transparent plastic base was more expensive to produce than glass. Quality was eventually improved, manufacturing costs came down, and most amateurs gladly abandoned plates for films. After large-format high quality cut films for professional photographers were introduced in the late 1910s, the use of plates for ordinary photography of any kind became increasingly rare.
The persistent use of plates in astronomical and other scientific applications started to decline in the early 1980s as they were gradually replaced by charge-coupled devices (CCDs), which also provide outstanding dimensional stability. CCD cameras have several advantages over glass plates, including high efficiency, linear light response, and simplified image acquisition and processing. However, even the largest CCD formats (e.g., 8192 × 8192 pixels) still do not have the detecting area and resolution of most photographic plates, which has forced modern survey cameras to use large CCD arrays to obtain the same coverage.
The manufacture of photographic plates has been discontinued by Kodak, Agfa and other widely known traditional makers. Eastern European sources have subsequently catered to the minimal remaining demand, practically all of it for use in holography, which requires a recording medium with a large surface area and a submicroscopic level of resolution that currently (2014) available electronic image sensors cannot provide. In the realm of traditional photography, a small number of historical process enthusiasts make their own wet or dry plates from raw materials and use them in vintage large-format cameras.
Preservation
Several institutions have established archives to preserve photographic plates and prevent their valuable historical information from being lost. The emulsion on the plate can deteriorate. In addition, the glass plate medium is fragile and prone to cracking if not stored correctly.[9]
Historical archives
The United States Library of Congress has a large collection of both wet and dry plate photographic negatives, dating from 1855 through 1900,[10] over 7,500 of which have been digitized from the period 1861 to 1865.[11] The
Scientific archives
Preservation of photographic plates is a particular need in astronomy, where changes often occur slowly and the plates represent irreplaceable records of the sky and astronomical objects that extend back over 100 years. The method of digitization of astronomical plates enables free and easy access to those unique astronomical data and it is one of the most popular approaches to preserve them. This approach was applied at the
A historical collection of photographic plates from
while a portion of the plates has been digitized.See also
References
- ^ "The Largest Photograph in the World of the Handsomest Train in the World" (PDF). Chicago & Alton Railway. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 February 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
- ^ "Harrow Photos – History of the Hills & Saunders Photographic Collection". Harrow School. Archived from the original on 17 April 2009. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
- ^ "Belle Vue Studio - Photo Archive - Bradford Museums & Galleries".
- ^ "Charon Discovery Image – Galleries – NASA Solar System Exploration". NASA Solar System Exploration. Archived from the original on 30 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- S2CID 15153001.
- ^ Herz, A.J.; Lock, W.O. (May 1966). "Nuclear Emulsions". CERN Courier. 6: 83–87.
- ISBN 978-0306477492. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
- S2CID 2034467.
- S2CID 93161043.
- ^ "Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints". U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
- ^ "Civil War Glass Negatives and Related Prints". United States Library of Congress. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
- ^ "Conservation". George Eastman Museum. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
- ^ a b "Australia's Holtermann collection of wet plate negatives" (PDF). Journal of Photography of the George Eastman House. 4 (3): 6–8. March 1955. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 September 2015. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
- ^ a b "Panorama of Sydney and the Harbour, New South Wales". Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
- ^ "Holtermann panorama" (PDF). National Gallery of Australia. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
- ^ "Three glass plate negatives of Sydney Harbour from the Holtermann residence, St. Leonards". State Library of New South Wales Catalogue. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
- .
- ^ "ADPA".
- ^ "Plate Archive Search Tool (PAST)". Carnegie Observatories. Retrieved 2020-12-16.
- ^ "Carnegie Observatories Plate Archive Database". plates.obs.carnegiescience.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
Further reading
- Peter Kroll, Constanze La Dous, Hans-Jürgen Bräuer: "Treasure Hunting in Astronomical Plate Archives." (Proceedings of the international Workshop held at Sonneberg Observatory, March 4 to 6, 1999.) Verlag Herri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main (1999), ISBN 3-8171-1599-7
- Wayne Osborn, Lee Robbins: "Preserving Astronomy's Photographic Legacy: Current State and the Future of North American Astronomical Plates." Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series, Vol. 410 (2009), ISBN 978-1-58381-700-1
- Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) Astronomical Photographic Data Archive (APDA) https://www.pari.edu/research/adpa/
External links
- Carnegie Observatories
- The Sonneberg Plates Archiv (Sonneberg Observatory)
- The Harvard College Observatory Plate Stacks
- APDA @ PARI
- Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute Astronomical Photographic Data Archive (PARI APDA)(Archive from Aug 2012)
- Capturing Oregon's Frontier Documentary produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting
- Video demonstration of collodion wet plate preparation and photographic image creation
- Course on field wet-plate photography
- Information on creation of wet-plate photographs