Sliding box camera, quarter plate, Daguerreotype
Category
Photographic technology
Date
1840 - 1850
Materials
Wood, Metal, Glass
Measurements
198 x 183 x 292 mm
Order this imageCollection
Fox Talbot Museum, Wiltshire
NT 1524919
Summary
A sliding box camera, with rack-focusing lens with swivel lens cover, and ground grass screen. A Daguerre-Giroux style daguerreotype camera, in quarter plate format. Camera body in polished mahogany. The lens consists of two cemented elements with a fixed aperture in front. Lacks plate holder. No makers marks or names. The rear of the camera has a turnscrew on the base to enable the box to slide. There is glass plate which slots into the back. The camera consists of an outer wooden box, with one open side and the lens board as the opposite side, and an inner wooden box with two open sides, opposite to each other, one open side with facilities to mount a focusing screen or a film plate holder. When the focusing screen was attached the inner box could be shifted forward and backward inside the outer box for ground glass focusing. When a sharp image was visible the lens cap was put upon the lens and the screen was replaced by a loaded plate holder to make an exposure. The lens cap was used as shutter.
Provenance
Part of the Fenton Collection. A gift from British Film Institute in 2017. From 1986-1999, part of BFI collection for the Museum of the Moving Image. BFI purchased collection in 1986 from James Fenton's Museum of Photography, Port Erin, Isle of Man 1976-1986