The following chart provides characteristic curve for J Lane Dry Plate ASA 2 Emulsion Batch # 53 and 54.  Correct exposure will be found by spot-metering on a gray card in mid-spring at mid-latitudes during mid-morning under northerly lighting conditions.  See Technicals and Tips Page for more detail on variations due to latitude, time of day, and time of year.  The emulsion batch number can be found on the back of the box in PURPLE TEXT.

I am pleased to announce that Burley Camera of Hythe, Kent, in the UK is now stocking J Lane Dry Plates!  Burley Camera specializes in antique film and plate cameras, making dry plates the perfect match for photography the old school way.  Burley Cameras is initially stocking traditional British Dry Plate Sizes of Whole Plate, Half Plate, Quarter Plate, and 6th Plate for both lines of plates:  The ASA 2 J Lane Dry Plates and Orthochromatic ASA 25 J Lane Speed Plates.   Feed your dry plate camera!  If they don't have a size in stock that you'd be interested in, let them know and they can get those plates for you.

Burley Camera's contact info and link to their website is listed on the Where To Buy page of the website.

Characteristic Curve for Batch #53 of J Lane Dry Plates (ASA 2 Plates).  The batch number can be found on the back of the box, in purple.

Here are measured Characteristic curves for the latest batches of J Lane Dry Plates (#52) and J Lane Speed Plates (#O-22).

As always, feel free to contact me with questions!

Quick post to share characteristic testing of recent ASA 2 and Orthochromatic ASA 25 emulsion batches.   You can determine batch # by looking on the back of the box of plates.

J Lane Dry Plate Batch 44 has great tonality, but as you can see the contrast is low with a gamma around 0.45.  I recommend metering at ASA 1.5 to ensure you are out of the toe entirely. It will scan nicely (see the MacBeth chart below).

J Lane Speed Plate Batch O-14 came out really well.   Pretty much exactly where I want it.

A year in the making, the ChromaGraphica Double Dry Plate Holder Kickstarter campaign was launched on Friday, 9 August 2019 at noon.  By the end of the weekend, the campaign had already raised 50% of its funding goal. 

Designed to be affordable, familiar in operation, and a good quality product, if successful the ChromaGraphica will be the first mass-produced double dry plate holder to be available new in decades.  The holder, released in this campaign in 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10, is designed to fit all standard backs in their respective sizes.  In 4x5, the holder will also fit Graflok backs. 

In such a niche market as large format (not to mention dry plate), the support of the community has been essential and, may I say, overwhelmingly awesome! 

If you are interested in getting your hands on a holder or two, please pledge your support to the campaign.  Don't assume that the campaign will be successful and that these will be available after.  The campaign is going to cover the costs of manufacturing an initial production run.  It cannot be overstated how critical it is that the campaign succeeds, for only by reaching the funding goal will these become a reality.

The link to the campaign page is below.  Feel free to take a look and enjoy the presentation we put together.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dryplateholder/the-chromagraphica-double-dry-plate-holder

-Jason

I've slightly reformulated the emulsion to remove some lingering base fog and also make the highlights a bit punchier.  So batch 42 was a test batch to do this stuff.   I characterized this batch to baseline the emulsion recipe going forward. 
Base fog: 0.09
Gamma 1.05.
Development was per box recommendations, except developer temperature was 22C.  I would expect contrast to be slightly lower at 20C.

I really like how plates from this batch look, as demonstrated by Portrait Test Victim #3 taken with a 150mm f/4.5 Voigtlander Heliar onto 4x5.  Metering was at ASA 2 on a gray card next to his face.