Home Made Plate Holders?

[newcan1]

I have a Zeiss Ikon Maximar A with a roll film back, but no holders for cut film or glass plates. I would really like to use this with glass plates (as I may try my hand at making some). It takes 3-1/4 by 4-1/4 plates. The only holders I have seen on auction sites go for silly money.

I was wondering if anyone has taken a shot at making such holders, and if so, how difficult it would be. I don't even have one to reverse engineer, so this is a long shot, but it would be cool to have 8 or so holders so I could really take the camera for a spin. I do have some sheet aluminum lying around.

The holders are the same as the ones for the same sized Kodak Recomar - they look a lot thinner than say Graflex ones or ones that partly use wood.

[newcan1]

by "Mome Made" I meant "Home Made" but can't change the title!

[David A. Goldfarb]

Fixed.

[Ian Grant]

It's actually a 9x12cm camera but quarter plate holders were sold for them as well in the UK and colonies, also the US. Quarter plate film.plates are the same width but shorter, and they are less common.

Plate holders are readily available on ebay, just search 9x12, I've never paid very musch for them, often they come as sets of 3 in a holder. If you're lucky you may find some with film inserts. Just beware there's not a standard fit so you need to look carefully to get the right ones.

I find that searching ebay.com/ebay.co.uk only finds some of them but as the cameras were very much more common in Germany ebay.de is far better. It's all one common Ebay database but items don't always map to other countries portals. Login details are identical regardless of which portal you use and so are saved items etc. So as it happens I'm the sole bidder on a German book I found on ebay.de, now I'm watching and waiting on ebay.co.uk where I can increase my bid if necessary and pay etc.

An big advantage of using 9x12 holders is with film inserts the film is a common EU size and easy to get while Quarter palte is part of the Ilford ULF annual run and much more expensive.

Ian

[newcan1]

Actually I misspoke about the size, it takes 2-1/4 by 3-1/4 plates (6x9), there was also a bigger Maximar that took the bigger plates. I have looked on ebay but the same type of holders (that also work in the same sized Recomar) are selling for like 3 for $45 - seemed a bit steep to me but maybe not. I will have to brush up my German and try the German site, thanks for the tip.

[Ian Grant]

Just did a quick search and there's not many listed at the moment which is unusual, you need to search quite regularly. I've found that even quite rusty looking ones clean up very easily, as do roll-film backs.

Ian

[Ian Grant]

Actually I misspoke about the size, it takes 2-1/4 by 3-1/4 plates (6x9), there was also a bigger Maximar that took the bigger plates. I have looked on ebay but the same type of holders (that also work in the same sized Recomar) are selling for like 3 for $45 - seemed a bit steep to me but maybe not. I will have to brush up my German and try the German site, thanks for the tip.

The format size is actually 6.5x9 it's slight wider than the roll-film 6x9, so search that size, there's quite a few at 4 euro at the moment.

Ian

[newcan1]

You are correct, it's 3-1/2 by 2-1/4, not 3-1/4, I just looked at some of the old plates I have with the camera.

I can't tell from the German site which would fit the Maximar A. Pacific Rim Camera has some on ebay.com which are Kodak holders, and I do know the Kodak Recomar holders will fit, so maybe I will buy from them. $15 for 3 and $15 for 2 -- more expensive than the Germans but I just don't know what I am looking at there.

[Ian Grant]

You need to look ar the roll film back, look at thedges/grooves etc and compare it's a bit of a pain but you'll get there.

Ian

[pharobank]

I have recently purchased a beautiful 1880s camera called a Photo Hall Paris Field Tailboard camera. But it came with no plates and I am now finding the plates are impossible to find. Your recommendations on this tread are great. Do you have more for me to try and find what I need. I may be attempting to build them myself if there are non to be found.