Last Updated on 06/13/2016 by Chris Gampat
The Galaxy company has been responsible for doing a load of really cool things: sheet film, direct positive sheets for 120 format, and today they’re launching a new Kickstarter for large format cameras. Ever hear of Wet Plates–as in Wet Plate Collodion or the stuff that so many photographers have used for forever? Well Galaxy has wondered why no one ever made Dry Plates, so they decided to do it themselves.
To use them, you’ll need to use dry plate holders before you put them behind the lens.
So what’s so cool about these? According to Galaxy:
“Large format ensures a very wide tonal range of prints and fantastic resolution. The images taken from glass plate negative demonstrate a very smooth transition from shadows to lights and the highlights because the glass helps diffuse the light, providing the whole tonal shift. This creates a certain depth, and the image looks very realistic, smooth, clear, almost three-dimensional.”
This explains a lot when you consider what film manufacturers say about how film works. These plates are slated to be ISO 200, black and white and available in packs of 10 with 4×5, 6×7, 8×10 and 16×20 sizes available.
To start with though, they’re going to be expensive for reasons that this all really does cost a lot of money. For starters, materials for glass production are expensive.