Full to Half plate reducing Camera Back w/film holder

This is a KODAK reducing camera back. It is for an 8x10 (10x8 inch in England or 18x24 cm on the continent) or full-plate camera that is made to take a smaller film holder of 4.25 x 6.5 inches of a rather dated size, it is a glass half-plate size but the included holder is only suitable for film. The back has a small cast brass label with the name and other text.
The camera back is a standard design and could probably be modified to accept a 4x5 or 5x7 reducing arrangement if the vintage film size is of no value. The mounting is by way of 4 pins two each on opposite sides that will engage with lugs on the one side of the rear standard and springs on the opposite side that have small holes for the pins. I have seen this arrangement on Folmer Schwing studio cameras made for Kodak. The ground glass holder is spring loaded in the traditional way with two long springs and the back has a groove to seat the ridge on the double dark film holder.
The back is in good condition showing signs of age related wear. The ground glass seems to me to be a cosmetic or amateurish replacement with opal glass but I cannot be sure as it does form a satisfactory image but looks a neat white instead of the hazy grey that I am used to, the corners have been filleted poorly to fit the recess but not cut off properly to view the lens which also leads me to believe it has been replaced at some point.
The included double dark film (NOT glass plate) holder is made by Kodak and has patent message and film size 4 1/4 x 6 1/2 stamped on the one side. The condition of the light tight hinge is bad. One of the dark slides is missing and the other has the handle broken off. New dark slides could be cut carefully from a 5x7 film holder to the dimensions of the one sample. One of the lock toggles is likewise missing but I will replace it if my spares will fit without injury.
Some usage ideas
This is a suitable piece for a collector who has a camera of the period that used this vintage film size but has no reducing back to accept the film size. Likewise with the film holder if you have a camera that takes this film size but no film holders this is your chance to complete your collection. If you have a old camera intended for half plate glass you can probably use this film holder to expose manually cut film in the vintage camera or using the reducing back on a studio camera to generate half-plate size negatives for retro contact prints. On its own the reducing back modified to 4x5 would allow for a new lease of life for an older studio camera without having to consume large quantities of 8x10 film when making studio portrait negatives for scanning or enlargement. You could even just use the ground glass and film holder portion to construct a DIY or repair a vintage half plate format camera.


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