I will rate next ones at ASA 25, this is one stop over, not really bad but I prefer to control that myself.
These Ilford plates are incredible... I will keep them for portraits for now.
I do see plates come up on out local auction site from time to time, but they're just about always opened or in an otherwise questionable state. One day.
Looks promising! Better than my stash of old Tri-X plates...so far.
Robert
I haven't tried Kodak old plate so far, normally are in USA and shipping is rare to here or expensive.
Ilford has proven me they are awesome so far, soviets... only ortho and it's a lottery...
I do see plates come up on out local auction site from time to time, but they're just about always opened or in an otherwise questionable state. One day.
As in ebay or local sites, if I dont see the seals are intact I don't even think about it.
In my case, I bought a set of six boxes of Tri-X plates, from the look of the packaging, I'd guess late 40s to early 50s. One box was already opened, and while I think they were not light-exposed, they were somewhat mildewed, and the fog was pretty out of control. But the other boxes were all sealed, so...who knows? I suppose it's about time to open one up and try it.
I buy antique ones off eBay or at the yearly local antique photo show. This is hit and miss, of course, as they are in varying condition, and the standards of those days...weren't. That is, some have external dimensions that don't match modern standards (e.g., the ANSI/ISO standard for 4x5 film holders) or, more irritatingly, they fit just fine, but the lock rib doesn't match what the camera expects, either being in a different place, or in some cases being inverse to the modern standard (i.e., has a groove instead of a rib). I've had better luck with larger sizes, all the way to 11x14; so far, they've all fit.
All that being said, in this manner I've managed to acquire a reasonable set of 4x5 holders that work, and hope to restore some of the more fragile or damaged ones to usability. I'm mostly just saying to look carefully at any you see offered for sale. There are still quite a few out there in the world, so it's a reasonable way to get going with plates.
