A new hobby and love

DennisL

DennisL

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Joined
Dec 13, 2025
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Hello, my name is Dennis. I am an American living in Brugge, Belgium. I have been shooting film, mainly 35mm and medium format, for about 40 years. I have slowly worked myself into the world of large format, specifically tin types and glass plates. Quite the learning curve for sure. Several months ago I acquired a Kodak 4A at a boot sale. It is now fully functional again. Thankfully the plate holder adapter was still with the camera, but alas, there is no plate holder. Technically it is an American "half plate" camera (4 ¼ x 6 ½), but none of the half plate holders that I have or have seen online will fit it. Anyone have a spare 4A plate holder they would like to sell? Or a 3D file to print one? Looking forward to hearing about other people's projects. Best wishes, Dennis
 
Welcome from North Worcestershire, UK.

Can you post some photos and rough dimensions. I have Kodak Half plate holders, and very early Kodak 5x4 holders (I sold one).

Essentially the early Eastman Kodak 5x4 holders are identical in fit to modern DDS film holder, but have a much longer light trap area. Some Graflex DDS have a light trap area roughly midway between the two.

A question would be when did Kodak Half plate DDS have the same outside dimensions as 7x5 holders.

George Eastman visited the Hüttig factory in 1889 wanting Richard Hüttig to work for him, he declined. However, he did supply Eastman Kodak with parts like focus track, front standards, etc. Krügener also supplied parts, including when ICA was formed. So you can see cameras from a few pre-WW1 manufacturers with very similar parts, which evolve from the rod front standards to castings.

Try asking https://zebradryplates.com he is starting to make holders for all sorts of cameras.

Ian
 
I have a 3a with just the roll film back. Looking at a 3a with the plate back online, it appears they take single sided metal plate holders.

Ian
 
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