Shooting with an Extraordinary 150 Year-old Camera

[@NatesFilmTutorials]

Back then not only where you a photographer, but also a chemist

[@ludwig4029]

Nate's Film Tutorials *where* you a photographer

[@Ric9hardify]

@Phil Weatherley But, for those who develop their own film today, there still is chemistry and toxicity involved.

[@sandraherrera6832]

Agreed 😀

[@AR-zq9hq]

@@Ric9hardify nothing compared to wet plate. You risk your health more using drano than when developing film.

[@praneelpathak657]

Now also, chemistry is used in photography but only difference is that it is already in the camera, you don't have to do all this.

[@Becksi666666]

150 years old but still a better Image quality then instax today.

[@briansegarra9312]

Very different process of photography it's like comparing oranges to lemons , both are citric but different flavor , but I see your points , if you shoot instax photo shoot in a decent camera you will see the film it's very great , I myself moded one to have a better lens and imo best instant film right know that packfilm is not available still it's very dificult to compare an instant film to wet plate or even film

[@scry1888]

@@briansegarra9312 i'd love to know and see the mods youve fone to your instax :D

[@briansegarra9312]

@@scry1888 you should look at my instagram(brianeric26) I will be posting some of my mod there soon so far an Polaroid 120 x instax wide

[@DuraniDX]

Becksi Please subscribe to my channel i also subscribe to your channel help me please

[@eldelabicidecolores]

Better image quality than iPhone XS aswell

[@GetOutsideYourself]

And here I am complaining when eye-AF doesn't work instantly.

[@eldelabicidecolores]

@@DuraniDX no

[@bobmiah]

@@DuraniDX walter

[@djdfjf4542]

@@bobmiah lies of thr jedi order

[@themightychippy3756]

“Can we go again. I think I blinked.”

[@mhaustria]

most people fear that, when I do a portrait of them. But because the exposure is a bit longer, this is no problem. Beside that, the strobe is faster, then you eye ;)

[@themightychippy3756]

@UC54g9MyqUxjeeIgAnxHtzrw wow that's really interesting, approximately what rating are the plates you use on iso?

[@mhaustria]

The Mighty Chippy about iso 0.5 when chemicals are fresh. Less when they get older

[@themightychippy3756]

@@mhaustria wow! Hence having to manually take the "shutter" off the lens and work out the timings, that's beautifully manual. Really something else

[@mhaustria]

@@themightychippy3756 thank you, but exactly that is what I like on my job

[@Dosteyboi]

back when photography was more like chemistry. imagine you have to study chemistry to take pictures.

[@scottlarson1548]

I have old books on wet plate photography. Anyone could follow the step-by-step directions in them without having much of an idea of what was happening chemically. That's why photography became a popular hobby.

[@Dosteyboi]

@@scottlarson1548 Yeah, but I am talking about the early days of Photography, when there were no books written on doing it.

[@scottlarson1548]

@@Dosteyboi Photographic chemicals always came with step-by-step instructions.

[@Dosteyboi]

@@scottlarson1548 but not anyone can do it right, they can still mess up. Nowadays, a 5 year old kid can take a photo using their mum's phone, but not back then, that is what I wanted to say, that it was so difficult to take a picture, imagine saying, nah man, i am out of the frame, let's take the picture again.

[@scottlarson1548]

@@Dosteyboi Anyone can mess anything up, but knowledge of chemistry didn't help you. If you had the patience to follow the instructions, you could take good photos. The chemistry was already figured out for you.

[@mhaustria]

Thanks for visiting and the great time we had! Don't be scared from some fire or a ding ;)

[@MathieuStern]

thanks to you for those super fun days

[@mhaustria]

@@MathieuStern I have to go on a diet after the food we had ;)

[@Nelegyenmabenneanevem]

Hi! How did you know the exposure time? Do you have to use maths for it, or you just feel it?:D

[@mhaustria]

Dániel Monostori great question!! Because the process uses blue light, a normal light meter is only kind of guidance. You never know exactly how much UV is outside. On the other hand, the chemicals do age. The older the collodion gets, the less light sensitivity it has. So it’s mostly kind of gut feeling. In the darkroom, I can adjust the image with developing times. But I like to have a well exposed image - it looks much more contrasty. When I shoot big plates, I often shoot a small plate before the main exposure to safe material.

[@Nelegyenmabenneanevem]

@@mhaustria Thanks for the answer!

[@miladghasemi1246]

This is one of the coolest photography videos I've ever seen on youtube.

[@MathieuStern]

thanks a lot Milad, let's hope other people think like you

[@alexcouter]

@@MathieuStern carrément, merci pour ce p'tit reportage fort intéressant

[@timonsolus]

Phil Weatherley : You’re missing the point. It’s not just about the image, it’s about the strange and wonderful journey you take to get there. It’s photography as an art form, and as a life experience, not just a technological science. Think about it this way - yes, you could take a helicopter ride straight to the top of Mount Everest and take spectacular pictures there before flying back again, but they’d only be worth a fraction to you emotionally as they would be if you’d climbed the whole damn mountain to get up there!

[@skyrizione8811]

@Phil Weatherley Are you really that fucking arrogant. Have you ever heard of a hobby asshole?

[@sean6992]

@@MathieuStern it's so strange having an old camera in 2020 that's why I love it

[@timonsolus]

Markus is so cool for preserving these ancient photography skills for future generations. I hope he has an apprentice, or finds one!

[@mhaustria]

Thank you so much! I'm doing lots of workshops, shootings and presentations. So hopefully, there are more people working with that process.

[@jaydevsingh3067]

Just imagine you have a modern camera with that big sensor

[@mhaustria]

Jaydev Singh and now imagine the battery for it ;)

[@jaydevsingh3067]

@@mhaustria Oops.... I forgot about that. Lol

[@zenova9926]

Definitely,u can see in pitch black with iso 102000 without any noise

[@jaydevsingh3067]

@@zenova9926 what!!! I didn't know that bigger sensors require more iso. If so then what will be the native iso? Any guess?

[@mhaustria]

LORD ROY Collodion wet plate is not very sensitive to light - ISO is about 0.5 ;)

[@Quetzalcoatl0]

Photography before the 1900s was more chemistry and science :D. Amazing shots!

[@mhaustria]

Quetzalcoalt thank you!

[@mhaustria]

Mike Gee you are right, they are similar

[@dumpmuch]

This is art

[@danialxiv591]

when this 150-year-old camera style captures a way better graphic than your $250 camera

[@rizalfiqrifahmiaminudin6326]

well that 150 years old camera is more expensive than camera nowadays, even for 1 shoot u need pay -+300 buck XD.

[@guotyr2502]

You mean only greyscale and takes hours and thousands of dollars on equipments and chemicals ?

[@RobbinBanks04200]

The images are very high resolution but now we have a thing called color photos and that makes the graphics better in one sense but what the fuck are you expecting from a $250 phone? for that price you get a phone with a shitty camera but if you were to invest more you would have a phone that can shoot in hd... now don't bitch that your shitty phone takes shitty pictures bud that's on you

[@bonkybonk_ow2793]

@Phil Weatherley not everyone has 1250$ to throw away on a camera rich asshole.

[@markopanariti1555]

@@bonkybonk_ow2793 i couldn't agree more with you

[@edwardvinch4492]

The picture from 1870 looks better.

[@dan-tf6ie]

That's what 150 years will do to your gear lol, not surprised

[@steposka]

@@dan-tf6ie I think it has more to do with used lens type. Also aperture makes huge impact on lens resolution and contrast. Shooting at f8 will take longer but I bet picture quality will increase.

[@-Archeus-]

@@steposka definitely. Back then, most of the time, people had to sit very still for a significant amount of time for the picture to be taken.

[@matteo.d.h6770]

And it capture lights not by pixel

[@MrJacobrezac]

steposka it also has to do with the size of the negative. The larger the negative the more detail and sharper the image. That’s what’s so cool about these collodion cameras is that they all have huge negatives.

[@christopherrasmussen8718]

My granddad had an antique portrait camera and he did wet plate photography in the 1920s with it. He took it out when he was in his 80s (and I a teen) and started again for several years, before he died. He sold the camera (i have no idea what is was) towards the end of his life. He taught me how to make and develop the plates and I learned to use the camera too. This summer I am a retiring and I want to do this again.

[@MathieuStern]

Fantastic project !

[@IreneRudnyk]

Absolutely amazing!! I can't wait to shoot some wet plate myself :)

[@mhaustria]

Thanks a lot!!! I think you are not that far away from my studio, just send me a pm on my socials ;) Edit: uups, I'm mistaken - so whenever you visit Vienna. I got a bigger Petzval Lens for some more swirly portraits (check my latest video) and some other wet plate toys to play with for workshops.

[@kamalkumarsau9596]

When he said safety is number one priority -crh😂😂😂

[@RIPbiker13]

To say this is extraordinary is an understatement. The process involved in getting these photos gives you a genuine appreciation of what photography actually is. It's taken for granted with all these phones, but true photography, the art and process of painting with light, is alive and well and this video demonstrates it so well.

[@jacopoabbruscato9271]

Amazing. Collodion has that unique look that just can't be reproduced in any way.

[@mhaustria]

Jacopo Abbruscato because it captures blue light. I did a video with Mathieu before about that. It is really not that easy to reproduce this process digitally...

[@mortimersnerd8044]

... as does film, as does digital.

[@Autorange888]

Daguerre, can't even reproduced properly by digital means.

[@praneelpathak657]

The inventor of camera was actually an author. Photography+chemistry+author, close to a polymath

[@Bubblecries]

7:01 I thought the left pic was a remake that I didn’t even know it was a legit 1870 pic

[@ritwikreddy5670]

They had more experience and expertise with those cameras.

[@DuchessOfDoofus]

(it was probably actually from the early 20th century based on the fashion but yes still super cool)

[@shaun760]

Because now we just capture selfies, pics to upload in social media. Back then they captured memories, the images which speak....

[@mhaustria]

Sayantan Mandal I think it makes a big difference if you take time to take an image with a purpose. This is where memories come from.

[@eydu7386]

@@mhaustria Memories are when ur looking back at a specific time. Not because u take some time just to take a photo with purpose.

[@ertugrulgazi389]

Sayantan Mandal I do that too.

[@ADRIAN-zh4ti]

Imagine doing a Boxing Photograph for a newspaper with that old camera

[@mhaustria]

KZbin Commentar Control I think it would be kind of possible with the right strobe setup - I have something with a fighter in my mind since some time....Just to busy right now with work, but I will do a video about it.

[@NickGranville]

As cool as this is I am glad for having digital photography these days.

[@Thiviru_premarathne]

Older photos are high quality, clearer and beautiful than newer photos old is gold ❤️💪

[@arielelijah1282]

It shoot not just point and shoot but a big responsibility because my family friend operates on the dark room died from cancer because of the the chemicals she was exposed. This type of photography shoots not just raw format or unprocessed JPEGS but REAL RAW PHOTO and I appreciate it.

[@amaliakomperda3798]

This is absolutely the coolest gift you could give someone.

[@mhaustria]

Amalia Komperda people often do this - that’s the reason I made vouchers with a wax seal :)

[@zenitpro]

Wow, how cool was that? It's not only about taking pictures - it's a true craft. What an experience!

[@mhaustria]

Rodrigo Neves da Silva thanks so much!

[@Bluelilly40]

What a gift it would be to be these 2 men's apprentice.

[@amadeuscesena]

Make more long videos like this one, it's more educative

[@deltactarchives1328]

Who would've known old tech were of equal if not better quality than our photos but a little bulkier which never hurt anyone.

[@stiannobelisto573]

Finally someone who is making art photography

[@mhaustria]

stian w thanks a lot

[@d0ntreply]

photos from this camera would be more valuable than any photo taken from any modern camera. if i was lucky enough to get a photo of me from that old tech. i'd totally treasure it the rest of my life.

[@rams6702]

thats about a few thousand megapixels too much for instagram lol. Absolutely love plate photography.

[@mhaustria]

from a 21x27cm plate you can get about 1000 megapixel with a good Scanner ;)

[@frinsklen]

No megapixel count can top this.

[@mhaustria]

good point - I did a gigapixel scan on one of my plates ;)

[@devlokavenue8364]

Back then.. photos were rare .. so more precious and a precious memory❤️

[@JamesK7911]

I can only imagine the excitement of this back then, it’s exciting to see it now and know that people back then were just experimenting with photography instead of professionally

[@Raychristofer]

Awesome video and collaboration. No way a digital camera can emulate. Love the results

[@mhaustria]

Raychristofer thank you so much!

[@Quicksilver_Cookie]

Whoa, the depth of field in those pictures. Absolutely mesmerizing.

[@mhaustria]

This is one thing why I like to shoot ultra large format :)

[@Yololifejay]

Its just not only a camera also its a just historic art that put light, time, person, everything in just one plate. And to see that photo, the things have to preparing and things to do to check the results, Its just marvelous every single works. Thanks for uploading this valuable video.

[@NathanielVillapando]

I wish they still make these kind of cameras.

[@mhaustria]

Nathaniel Villapando actually they do, there are a lot of manufacturers that build large to ultra large format cameras - Chamonix for example

[@NathanielVillapando]

@@mhaustria Thanks. 💖

[@billnicks2362]

was lucky enough to have an opportunity to use one the 1880's last year. HAd a migraine for 2 days after the chemicals but absolutely loved it

[@mhaustria]

bill nicks it’s always a good idea to wear a mask when you are not working in a well ventilated area. Glad you liked it :)

[@billnicks2362]

@@mhaustria Thanks for the advice. I had decided on doing just that if I get a chance to do it in the future. Me having bad lungs doesn't help either, but I would love to have another go off it. Love the process

[@mhaustria]

bill nicks for me it is addicting - just got my mobile dark room to work outside. Just get a good gastight mask from 3M and you are good to go.

[@billnicks2362]

@@mhaustria Best of luck with the darkroom

[@mhaustria]

bill nicks thanks a lot - hopefully I will upload a video soon

[@samsen201]

How COOL. Then WET! Chemically wet yet realistically Solid and Historically Glorifying.

[@Abdallah_yusuf]

Wow. my jaws just droped, I always wondered on early days how they managed to adjust the shutter speed, the ISO and the Aperture. now i know how those camera works. i really can't thank you enough for sharing this video with us. thanks a million

[@mhaustria]

Happy you enjoyed it - it really is mostly experience and gut feeling, depends how old the chemicals are, if the lens is coated and a bit of gut feeling. Because I capture only blue light, a normal light meter is not a big help.

[@AIM54A]

@@mhaustria I found you can put a blue filter in front of a analog meter and get a good handle on metering. I use a Gossen Luna Pro F with a blue filter in front of the sensor.

[@mhaustria]

@@AIM54A that's a pretty good idea actually - I use the Sekonic L-758 - I gonna try that

[@EbolaSquirrel]

The quality is insane on them! Better than many cameras today.

[@bonkybonk_ow2793]

my grandfather has a collection of like 20 of these, along with other strange and antique cameras. he's a proffesional when it comes to optics so i guess his interest is excpected, but that much? there's a reason, they are so cool.

[@aayazahmed5389]

This thing is so much valuable. Only few in these world will understood.

[@ExhaustCZ]

Just started shooting on film, have my medium format and 35 mils camera collection - Rolleicords, Olympus and Zeiss Box Tengor, but this is absolutely beautiful! Love the 'shutter' :)

[@mhaustria]

Thanks a lot!!!

[@subramaniamchandrasekar1397]

Thank you very much for the video. It reminded my young days of our Zeiss lens bellows camera with glass photography plate. Cant remember if the plates were 6 x 6 inches. Used a ground glass for focus and then swap with the photo plate during exposure. My father used to prepare or process the glass plates in a dark room. Regards

[@adityasanthanam1945]

That is amazing. Those pictures are still better than any phone camera.

[@HillCountryDemo]

This is an amazing video. Makes me really appreciate how far we have come in the world of photography. I can’t imagine the difficulty the photographer who went with Shakelton had when he went to the South Pole with all of his glass plates on their expedition. Imagine carrying all those heavy glass plates and the camera, it would have taken a small army just to support the photographer.

[@dempa3]

Thanks for this very interesting video! It has history, chemistry, optics, environments, lovely people and great images of course!

[@matthewconnor]

Wait the depth sensor is better than nowadays camera. That's my though 🤗

[@constantdarkfog49]

Amazing old wet process, truly creative. Nothing like a nice large negative size. Nice prints.

[@villemononen5303]

Aah that was really fun! Great pictures, so much character to them. Thanks!

[@MathieuStern]

Thanks a lot :) i enjoyed the Character too

[@prakashmungekar3119]

Reminded of my childhood photo taken in one of the photo studio in Mumbai when I was 3 years of age . Similar camera was used but I never knew the process of developing the photo . Appreciate your efforts for showing your great skill . Thanks very much Mathieu.

[@3DCojo]

This is really cool, and so light hearted. I like this.

[@mhaustria]

Then you have to get a picture done on a plate ;)

[@3DCojo]

@@mhaustria That would be awesome haha!

[@happyhardiansyah]

You just dont know how amazing it looks to me JUST PURE AMAZING!!

[@mhaustria]

Happy Hardiansyah thanks - holding a plate in person is even more cool ;)

[@happyhardiansyah]

@@mhaustria I wish I could hold it too! 😭 your work of art is amazing, YOU are wonderful, everything in this video just blow my mind of how the old technology "uniqueness" still can't be beaten by the new one, wow, just... wow 👏👏👏

[@mhaustria]

@@happyhardiansyah Thank you so much! I think all the different photography processes (also digital) have their places to be present. I just like the fact, that I have to focus on this one shot and the work with my hands.

[@chokie987]

Why would the pioneers of photography make such a complex process? I can only think of one answer: the result was worth it.

[@zfoxfire]

They did whatever worked.

[@drummergirl4239]

The fact that these old cameras had 14 megapixel quality. Amazing!!

[@MathieuStern]

These old cameras had 2000 megapixel quality

[@leletipiham8156]

Old is gold, these old ones are the fathers of the digital ones

[@chopin65]

Your portrait was wonderful! He really captured your personality. It was warm and playful! I am so happy I found your channel. You are amazing! Well done!

[@eladbari]

MAGNIFIQUE, Mathieu!!

[@thebridge4012]

I had a photo of my wife and I taken with a camera just like that in a past life.

[@njrsa]

100 yrs and we have moved so much.. next 1000 yrs who know where it takes.. amazing to have record of hows it’s done in the past...

[@frankthespank]

This is what I imagine everyday life is in Europe...

[@satan1189]

Believe me its far from it

[@smoker_joe]

frankthespank: That's because you only get the telegraph in the Rockies. I mean, that's how I imagine people live in the United States

[@sergiovictoria8345]

I'm currently station in Europe right now and it's far more advance than anything in the states lol.

[@nusavandenboogaart4971]

Totally not

[@JulieWallis1963]

frankthespank I’m embarrassed for you Frank, so much ignorance, unreal. Especially if you’re American, which is such a backward country.

[@mediocreman6323]

150 years… If you assume a generation to be about 25 years, this lady could be the contemporary woman's great great great great grandmother.

[@thunnerplays]

9:41 what a small world.

[@eliel_360]

Big Brains

[@zuur303]

Gorgeous end results!

[@mhaustria]

praevius thank you - happy you like them

[@johncantrell614]

Very neat. Always amazes me to watch the picture slowly materialize in the developer, makes me wish I could have learned to do dark room work back when I only shot film.....

[@David_Quinn_Photography]

Chemistry is what makes wet plate so cool outside of it being classic.

[@davinci9571]

they look so beautiful on the old camera wow

[@mhaustria]

missing person thank you!!

[@venug8585]

Pictures took on photographic plates are better than a whole bunch of digital images.

[@bniisantos]

K boomers

[@DEADLINETV]

Anybody remotely interested in photography should do a workshop like that! Makes you appreciate the art of photography even more, I think!

[@burdineestep4224]

REAL PHOTOGRAPHY this is. ! i shot 2x5 8x10's handmade art paper coated for prints, sun exposure. Worked with Corlos Richardson. Markus is very good indeed. Great video.

[@refard5]

love that polaroid with wet plate, so cool

[@st0r4g36]

In film photography, we have small format (35mm), medium format and large format. Large format use the exact same type of camera that was use in the video but instead of metal plates coated with chemicals, we use large sheets of film. People in the comment are loving the sharpness of the pictures, that's because the images on the plates is made of "real" light that bounce back from the subject, through the lens, on to the plates, every details is preserve. With nowadays cameras, images are digitalized, compressed into pixel, so i could say, a 24mega pixel camera will never be as sharp as a large format print

[@mhaustria]

Agree 100% - I did some scans from my plates, this reveals some great detail. One of them is at the La Gacilly exhibition at the size of 1x1 Meter and this one looks very crisp. But I guess even at 10x10 Meters it would still look crisp. Compared to full frame a 210x270mm plate is 0.13 crop "sensor" ;) I remember talking to film photographer, he told me that in earlier times, the film size was always adjusted to the print size. So you can make contact copy for a cover, for example

[@Pantibiblon]

Man,I love this.I mean... things like this..... when people keep preserving ancient tecnologies.

[@bangkuwarteg4719]

This is what people use to record ufo & bigfoot sightings

[@ItsIdaho]

I am from the South of Austria and the next time I get to Vienna I might have to check this guy out.

[@kswaes]

dude im so bored and this filled me with so much joy idk why

[@pazzicuriosi6660]

It's absolutely wonderful! A modern journey into the past. Thank you!

[@MathieuStern]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@valfera10]

I like how y'all speak english. It sounds way more acurate than when spoken by movies' and tv's german and french speaking people

[@DVDRAR]

all these vsco girls making polaroids mainstream, imma have to use this now

[@SlavKarwasz]

That idea of using an oven instead of open flame to varnish plates is worth a beer or two :)

[@mhaustria]

Sławomir Karwasz Many years ago I used it for pizzas - hahaha ;)

[@JOELwindows7]

This is your daily dose of Recommendation Ancestor camera

[@orangeloaf]

waow the old lens is still amazing until now..

[@michaelchiaretta]

Very interesting!!! Good job Mathieu!!

[@MathieuStern]

Thanks my friend !

[@fathurabinaya8402]

This is absolutely amazing!

[@mhaustria]

thank you!

[@jimmibrown]

Just incredible! Would love to try that one day...

[@mhaustria]

Cameron Brown try a workshop in my studio. I’m pretty sure, you will like it

[@Noealz]

That looks like a ton of fun

[@classicalbuzz3818]

now that's pure aesthetic

[@gardard6638]

As a 160 years old man I can confirm that this is the same camera I used when I was young

[@shantanucsd]

That's awesome dude!!

[@brianeliel5756]

Can’t wait to watch

[@nathanpratt3058]

Photography was a real professional thing back then

[@nathan9828]

Still has better quality than security cameras

[@urbanshadow777]

Got to touched one of these cameras at tempest head office in the UK. It was an honour just to touch

[@mhaustria]

urbanshadow777 Sometimes I feel blessed I am able to work with mine.

[@LittleBit0Everything]

Great video, Mathieu !

[@Viraj43837]

Tough but true effort, excellent.Thanks sir

[@MrBorish123]

I love our spooky historic photos