No this isn’t a daguerreotype. I wish it was. Really I do. It is however the best of the test photos that I took today. I am happy to report that my bargain basement lens is able to produce an image. Yay! Unfortunately as I suspected,  it is pretty limited when used wide open. This particular image was produced using a hand made f-stop with an opening about the size of a dime. If I am doing the math right that makes for an f-stop of a little over 8. Pretty slow in the world of daguerreotypes. The rest of the pictures I took can be seen here. Wide open is pretty fuzzy. Exposure is all over the map since my shutter is a lens cap. I certainly have forgotten some of the refinements of wet chemistry (as you can see), but it was starting to come back to me after a few tries. I also had the fun of using an 8×10 camera for the first time ever. Hard to keep everything adjusted right and get those film holders to seat in place. More challenges – er opportunities. :)

I also cured the light leak in my fan exhaust. Pictures of that here.

All in all a fruitful day.

I had a fair amount of time this weekend to work on things daguerreian and I made small progress on a number of fronts. I finally created a lens board for my camera – amazing how quick something can go when you have the right tools. Version 1 was made using a wonky old backsaw and didn’t fit right. V2 was made with my new Ryobi portable table saw and looks to have 1/32″ tolerances. Read more »

Hooray for the swap meet! I went to a modest photography swap meet today looking for 8×10 film holders. My big plan was to buy one or two Read more »

I sent an email yesterday to a silversmith in the city to ask about getting 5-4″x5″ copper plates coated to 12 microns on one side with pure silver Read more »

Household chores have taken the bear’s share of the weekend so Read more »