Source of AgX plates

baja · Post by **baja** » Tue Dec 28, 2010 6:56 pm

I've been reading about peoples' experiments with different plates, and
I'm especially interested in the GEO-3 plates that Ed Wesly liked so much.
In trying to track them down, I've run into a confusing array of web sites,
some in Russian, offering different kinds of plates, but no GEO-3 plates,
and I'm not familiar with any of the other numbers.

So I'd like to get started with some smaller plates with a 25mw 532nm
laser. Please recommend a good low noise high DE reflection plate for that wavelength,
and a pointer to a distributor where I can just order them. I'm especially
interested in those GEO-3 plates, so if you know where I can get them
I'd really appreciate a url to a seller.

Thanks!

Ed Wesly · Post by **Ed Wesly** » Wed Dec 29, 2010 9:06 am

I got mine from Stas at Geola, who seems to be a distributor and user. That should be your first course of action, although info at Geola dot com goes to a common mailbox, but I am sure that they will set you up. Somebody from the company that makes them, Sphere-S, posts on this forum, so that could be an alternative.

Once again, I must reiterate, if I were to plunk down my hard-earned money for plates, this is what I would buy, being fed up with the Slavich PFG-01 Agfa clone, the Slavich PFG-03M that sometimes works, and the hard to find BB plates that pretty much need the pre-exposure soak. Plus a couple of other things that are not for sale yet that I have sampled, mainly because they don't work as well as the above.

I just hope that my next batch works as well as the first!

Valery · Post by **Valery** » Wed Dec 29, 2010 4:10 pm

Can this will help.
http://holoforum.org/oldforum/viewtopic ... 8822f7e24f
Beside me much such plate.

ron olson · Post by **ron olson** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 12:03 pm

We currerntly have (3) 30cm x 40cm GEO-3 plates in stock.
Pricing is $84 per plate plus shipping.

baja · Post by **baja** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 4:16 pm

Thanks for that offer. So far you are the only person I've found who has them;
nobody else (geola, etc) has ever replied to my emails so I was losing
hope that they were even available. I'll contact you offline to buy
these plates.

ron olson · Post by **ron olson** » Mon Jan 03, 2011 8:11 pm

As something of a follow-up: If anyone is looking for green sensitive silver halide plates - we currerntly have a good stock of each: 32cm x 43cm; 40cm x 40cm; and 25cm x 25cm (Agfa millimask). We also have access to 80cm x 60cm (Konica) plates and we (Laser Reflections) produce holographic filmplates (film mounted onto glass with 2-sided adhesive film) up to 60cm x 40cm (GEOLA VRP-M).

Jeffrey Weil · Post by **Jeffrey Weil** » Tue Jan 04, 2011 11:13 am

Hello Ron,

I've never heard the expression "film plate" for laminated film. That's a good one. I'm going to start using it too.

Jeff Weil

Ed Wesly · Post by **Ed Wesly** » Wed Jun 22, 2011 7:23 pm

I posted an interesting experiment with the GEO-3 plates on my web site: http://nlutie.com/ewesly/HnEPortfolio/ColdJD4.html

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:02 am

Ed Wesly wrote:I posted an interesting experiment with the GEO-3 plates on my web site: http://nlutie.com/ewesly/HnEPortfolio/ColdJD4.html

Very interesting indeed - thanks for sharing!

Reading your report, I wondered if one might achieve the same effect (as you did by lowering the processing temperature) by adapting the developer composition: lower pH, perhaps increased dilution etc.
I remember the struggle I had with the extremely soft PFG-03 emulsion. It was so soft and sensitive to touching I had to wear gloves all the time - even when handling dry film (at least for first 2-3 months. After that period the gelatin layer grew harder)!

Anyway, applying a develop-bleach processing schedule (for SHSG mostly then) I noticed that adding 5-10g/L boric acid to the otherwise highly active Neutol, Agfa's paper developer, greatly improved things. The PFG-03 emulsion did easily survive the developing step and ended up in a nice hologram - though I didn't run any hardening step at all. Processing temperature had to be kept around 18°C.

Perhaps a similar stragtegy might be tried on the GEO-3 emulsion (unfortunately, I never received any films from Sphere-S). Incidentally, both of your developers, CW-2 and JD-4, were actually aimed at much better hardened emulsions (Agfa's 8E75/8E56 on the one hand and HRT/Colourholographics plates). So adapting the developers might be a route to go.

As an aside, I'm not sure if it's really necessary to have such soft emulsions in order to achieve ultra-fine AgX grains...

Ed Wesly · Post by **Ed Wesly** » Thu Jun 23, 2011 12:50 pm

Thanks, Martin, it's good to see that great minds think alike! 18C is about 65F, so we are on the same page!

It was interesting to hear that you used a photo paper developer on the holo plates. Could you give us some details? I have used Kodak Dektol, a paper developer on Agfa 8E75HD plates, however instead of the recommended 2 parts water to one part of developer to make a working strength solution, I used two parts developer and one part water, because when you compare the formula of Kodak D-19 to the closest published formula to Dektol, Kodak's D-72, this dilution brings the concentration of metol and hydroquinone to the same strength as D-19! There is a bit more sulfite in the paper developer, about the same on the alkali, sodium carbonate, but it worked pretty much the same as D-19!