That’s enough fettling with this whole plate studio camera.
The bellows are now attached. The contact adhesive I used on a test section was useless, and then I remembered I had some industrial strength double-sided sticky tape. It’s a nightmare to cut and handle, but I got there eventually.
It is now light tight and useable. It is only a temporary bellows but I’ve had a temporary bellows on one of my other cameras for over ten years now.
And of course, I couldn’t possibly wait to shoot a quick plate with it to see the lens coverage. So I stuck the lens back on its old lens panel (just waiting on a hole being cut on the new one).
Luckily, Angie was still in her studio and kindly popped in for a test whole plate with the chems I had already in the darkroom. (Note: mix fresh soon).
I really wanted to see coverage for portraits at f6.5 wide open. This is quite a wide angle lens, and this plate is less than one metre from the sitter. Any closer, and she would have it sitting on her lap…
So, f6.5 with fading fast (4pm) March window light at 10 seconds, it could have done with longer as the development was extended to 30 seconds, but I think we got away with it considering it was a quick, sit there and don’t move plate. Thank you Angie.
If anyones interested in this studio camera and lens, get in touch before I put it on ebay or FB marketplace.
Oh, the stand is not included, that’s the one from my Watson & Sons studio camera.