The company I work for recently upgraded their warehouse light source from metal halide to LED. So I saved one of the (rather big and very heavy) units from the metal skip and salvaged all the spare 400W bulbs that were no longer required. I thought it might be a useful light source for certain wet plate collodion subjects – still life scenes in particular.
A few months ago I found the time to try it out with a few old bottles sitting on top of a wooden box. I used an old piece of red material as a backdrop.
It worked pretty well.
![](https://i2.wp.com/www.jameslpearson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/JLP_WPC_0116_Web.jpg?fit=900%2C726&ssl=1)
Some technical details:
Exposure time: 45s
Aperture: f/27
Lens: Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar-S 150mm f/5.6
Camera: Sinar Norma 5×4
Light source: 400W Metal Halide Single Bulb
Behind the scenes:
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.jameslpearson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/IMG_5166_Web-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C675&ssl=1)
![](https://i1.wp.com/www.jameslpearson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/IMG_5167_Web-scaled.jpg?fit=675%2C900&ssl=1)
![](https://i1.wp.com/www.jameslpearson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/IMG_E5170_Web-scaled.jpg?fit=900%2C756&ssl=1)
The Camera Club Chronicles #1
I am a member of Kelso Camera Club, which is, like most other camera clubs,...