Queston about glass plates and other old film

[orlovphoto]

So I found this back from an old camera and I'm pretty sure there are glass plates in there. I can not take a risk and open it to see if they have been already developed (like my other recent find that you may or may not have heard about). So I thinking - how would one go about developing them? I surely don't have hangers for them.... Also, would you add benzotriazole and increase development time? What developer would you use - there's no way of knowing what type of film it is - I mean it must be close to 100 years old... :/

Also I have two Gralex film packs and I think they too have film in there. This one is 4x5 though so that should be easier. Never having worked with Graflex packs I am not sure about how to tell if those sheets have been shot or not.... The number in the window on one of them says 12...

Any help is appreciated.

Cheers,
Anton

 

[orlovphoto]

Also - this may be a dumb question, but here is goes. If by chance the images on these glass plates are indeed already developed... there's no chance of ruining them by running them through processing again, right? With all my darkroom experience I don't think that it'll hurt them, but it doesn't hurt to ask the community

 

[orlovphoto]

Anyone? Do you think running already developed plates would damage them?

 

[compur]

I don't think it's likely that someone would put developed plates into a camera back. They are most likely either unexposed or exposed and undeveloped.

 

[orlovphoto]

Thanks Compur

Imagine my surprise when two weeks ago I actually found developed glass plates dating back to WWI in a stereo camera I bought. That's why I was asking - I know the chances of that happening again with a different camera are extremely slim, but it did come from the same photo estate and it's the same type of a camera (just slightly newer Jumelle model)... so there is a slight chance that maybe the same previous photographer owned that camera too and maybe that's how he stored his negatives after developing?

here is a link to the NBC7 that they did on the first camera I found.
Man Finds 100-Year-Old Photos Inside Antique Camera | NBC 7 San Diego

 

[maris]

Film, glass plates, light sensitive materials (not IR types, obviously) can be inspected without risk in an absolutely black darkroom using an infrared viewing device.

 

[Light Guru]

You will find much more info and a lot more help about things like this on the large format photo forum.

 

[bsinmich]

Do you have the possbility of looking at 1 of the glass plates and seeing if it is already developed? You could get away with a red safelight at about 4-6' because all of the old glass was orthochromatic.

 

[orlovphoto]

Maris - I WISH I had an infrared viewing device right about now (actually I have wanted one for a while, but never really 'needed' one until now)
Bsinmich - good pointer there on the orthochromatic nature of the glass plates. I'm heading into the darkroom right now - wish me luck!