Is half plate film still available?

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Prompted by a question on this forum, I recently attempted to find out if any maker still made half-plate (4.75" x 6.5") film and drew a total blank.
Agfa and Ilford have the best availability, with 10x8", 5x7" or 13x18cm, 4x5", quarter-plate and 2.5x3.5" available between them.
Kodak commonly list only 5x4, and 10x8, with 5x7 available in a more limited number of films, and as for Fuji? Hah! Forget it!
In short, none of the major manufacturers lists half-plate at all. Yet a recent book on Rollfilm and View camera photography by Roger Hicks (no relation I hope, John) states that 5"x7" and 13x18 cm are in fact two separate sizes, and further, that half-plate film is still available in a few emulsions. The implication being that half-plate (and 127 rollfilm!) is still a perfectly viable format.
I thought at first that this might just be due to outdated information, but the publication date of the book is this year, 2001.
SO. Is the information in the book total rubbish, or is there some secret supplier of obscure film sizes that I should know about.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), June 11, 2001

Answers

Pete ; I use a half plate camera - the first Toyo metal field, albeit fitted with a 4x5 back. I did come across some half plate film holders in a secondhand shop in Tokyo last year, and remember thinking what a great format! I am also sure that in a 2000 Ilford catalogue, they listed one or two emulsions in half plate - it may be worth checking with Ilford directly.

-- fw (finneganswake@altavista.net), June 11, 2001.

Silverprint in London might be able to help.

-- Pete Watkins (pete_watkins@btinternet.com), June 11, 2001.

You might try contacting Filmforclassics.com. They market odd rolllfilm sizes and carry some sheetfilm. Their web page does not show half-plate, but they may provide custom cutting. You might also be able to cut your own film, possibly from 5x7. Somewhere on this forum there is a discussion of cutting 4x10 from 8x10 using a jig or a rotary trimmer. I suspect that the book you are citing was probably published in 2001 but concieved much earlier. In fact, if you take a look at View Camera Sept./Oct. 1997, Roger Hicks has an article entitled "Plate and Other Old Film Sizes." Hope this helps.

.............................

-- Dave Willison (dwillisart@aol.com), June 11, 2001.


It is easy to make a jig: I use the Fiskar cutter-not the greatest, but until a Rotatrim comes along. Among those who will custom cut film are PhotoWarehouse in Oxnard CA (125 Pan Portrait) and Lotus View Camera in Austria. It cna be done ...

-- David Stein (DFStein@aol.com), June 11, 2001.

It is easy to make a jig: I use the Fiskar cutter-not the greatest, but until a Rotatrim comes along. Among those who will custom cut film are Photo Warehouse in Oxnard CA (125 Pan Portrait) and Lotus View Camera in Austria. It can be done ...

-- David Stein (DFStein@aol.com), June 11, 2001.


Thanks everyone.
If all the readers of this forum can't come up with a ready source of half-plate film, then it must be well and truly dead.
If I can find an address for Roger Hicks or Frances Schultz, then I'll politely ask them not to include such misleading information in future issues of the book.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), June 13, 2001.

Pete ; I have just found one advertised source for 4.75 x 6.5 film ; Mr Cad are advertising Maco 100ASA in this format - GBP6 for 10 sheets, and GBP17 for 30 sheets. Good luck......

-- fw (finneganswake@altavista.net), June 24, 2001.

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