Another use for spoiled plates may be found in No. 857 (March 31, 1896).
S. B. C. wishes to know some place in Brooklyn or New York where the "Quad" camera may be purchased; and how much it costs to develop, print, and mount each picture. E. T. Anthony & Co., and Scovill Adams Co., carry many makes of cameras, and S. B. C. will probably find the Quad for sale at one of these places. To finish a picture from the developing and mounting, not including the price of the plate, will cost, for a picture the size of the Quad, 3½ by 4½, about three cents. When prints are made in large quantities, the cost is less in proportion than when only a few are made. Four by five blue-print paper costs ten cents per dozen, and there is no toning necessary; so if one made blue prints, and used the cheap cards for mounting, the prints would cost but fifteen cents per dozen.
Sir Knight Frank F. Smith sends a print from a negative which shows a white line looking something like a piece of string with a knot or loop in it, and asks the opinion of the editor as to what it is. He says it was caused in the following manner: He loaded a Bull's-Eye camera, and left the shutter open, walked about seven squares with the camera in this condition, then closed the shutter, and rolled the film up without attempting to take a picture on it. The editor would be quite at a loss as to the cause if she had not had a similar experience. Wishing to make a picture showing moonlight effect—the subject being two young ladies standing at the edge of a small lake just as the sun was setting—the camera was pointed directly toward the sun, which was not obscured by clouds, the lens shielded so that the sun would not strike the plate, and an exposure made. When the plate was developed there was no picture on it, but a white line which looked like a bunch of tangled string, the ends of the line passing off the same side of the plate as in the print sent by Sir Frank. The only way in which this phenomena could be accounted for was that a ray of light must have struck the plate, and, instead of fogging it, left its likeness, after the manner of a flash of lightning. Have any of our members had a similar experience?
Sir Knight Charles Lusenkamp, Grand Rapids, Mich., asks how to mount prints without destroying the gloss made by the ferrotype plate; how long a plate of medium sensitometer should be printed for a lantern-slide, and what developing agent should be used for developing it; where glycin can be purchased, and where 2 by 2½ plates can be bought; which chemical the editor prefers for developing—pyro, eikonogen, metol, amidol, hydrochinon, or glycin. To preserve the gloss given by the ferrotype plate, trim the prints ready for mounting, before toning. Squeegee to the ferrotype plate, and, when dry, paste the back of the print before removing it from the plate, and mount directly on the card. By this method the print does not become moistened, and retains most of the gloss. The plate should be printed from three to ten seconds, according to the density of the negative from which the slide is made. A very dense negative takes several seconds longer. Hydrochinon and eikonogen mixed make an excellent developer for lantern-slides. The hydrochinon gives density and the eikonogen detail. See No. 852, February 25, for a good formula for a developer. Order glycin through one of the photographic supply houses in your own city. If they do not have it in stock, they will get it for you. The plate the size you mention is not made, but you can get films in small sizes. The editor likes eikonogen and hydrochinon mixed, and also metol for developing. See No. 825 for a toning solution. Sir Charles sends a formula for a developer made with eikonogen and hydrochinon, which he says is fine. No. 1. Water, 64 oz.; sulphite of sodium crystals, 2½ oz.; eikonogen, 1 oz.; hydrochinon, 1/8 oz. No. 2. Water, 64 oz.; carbonate of potassium, 2½ oz. To use, take of No. 1, 2 oz., and of No. 2, 1 oz. Sir Charles asks for correspondents interested in photography. Will Sir Charles send his street and number?
Calvin Farrar, 35 Greenwood Avenue, Cleveland, O.; James Maynard, Jun., Box 282, Knoxville, Tenn.; Foster Hartwell, 629 Third Avenue, Lansingburg, N. Y.; John Mills, 308 Ogden Avenue, Milwaukee, Wis.; Minnie G. Farwell, 55 Oak Street, Hyde Park, N. Y.; Charles Lusenkamp, Grand Rapids, Mich., wish to be enrolled as members of the Camera Club.
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