Prevalence of panchromatic film in the 1920s

I'm looking to take some photographs using a 1920s quarter-plate camera and had assumed - based on Wikipedia - that if pan film was introduced in 1906, that it would have been pretty prevalent in the early to mid 1920s. 

However on Luminous Lint, reference back to Wikipedia seems to imply that Margaret Bourke-White was using ortho film in the 1930s.

So if I want to replicate the technical means used by a particular photographer, how could I determine whether they used ortho or pan? Would the plates be marked like film? Are there signs in the prints that would push the interpretation one way or the other? Lips in the work are not black which is a pointer to pan.

Regards

David Edge

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Replies

  • Thank you Janine

    These were mono plates made into palladium prints. I do know the camera was a Graflex SLR, although as I think the photographer probably continued to use it through the 1940s any filters with it probably won't reflect what was used in the 1920s. The subjects include work at a photo school; still lifes and product photos; and location portraits. Some of the indoor portraits feature poses that would have been difficult to hold for any time so that's a pointer to ortho.

    It occurred to me that the photographer might have switched between pan and ortho depending on subject, but knowing the problems changing from colour to black and white give me, I suspect not.

    Your comment about scratching a code in the emulsion is very helpful and suggests that the printer who has made modern prints of the work will likely have a good idea, so that will be my next line of enquiry.

    Best regards



    Janine P Freeston said:

    It is difficult. If you can identify the camera and filters were used it might help. The standard by professionals was to use a one shot triple exposure camera with colour filters. The warmer colours were, as you say, not registered by ortho plates- if they were ortho and the warmer colours were registered the blues would have been bleached out. The subject matter might also be an indicator as I believe panchromatic plates were still quite slow in comparison to ortho up until the late 20s. The plates were not necessarily marked by the manufacturers but some photographers marked them to distinguish which filter they were shot through with a single letter scratched into the emulsion. 

    Panchromatic plates were very expensive and many photographers preferred to use the ortho plates and adjust the exposures of the colour layers prior to assembling a print.

    E J Wall's explanations of colour processes up to 1925 in 'History of colour photography', subsequently followed up J.S. Friedman offer detailed guidelines that you may find particularly useful.

    I hope that helps

  • It is difficult. If you can identify the camera and filters were used it might help. The standard by professionals was to use a one shot triple exposure camera with colour filters. The warmer colours were, as you say, not registered by ortho plates- if they were ortho and the warmer colours were registered the blues would have been bleached out. The subject matter might also be an indicator as I believe panchromatic plates were still quite slow in comparison to ortho up until the late 20s. The plates were not necessarily marked by the manufacturers but some photographers marked them to distinguish which filter they were shot through with a single letter scratched into the emulsion. 

    Panchromatic plates were very expensive and many photographers preferred to use the ortho plates and adjust the exposures of the colour layers prior to assembling a print.

    E J Wall's explanations of colour processes up to 1925 in 'History of colour photography', subsequently followed up J.S. Friedman offer detailed guidelines that you may find particularly useful.

    I hope that helps

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