Mousetrap Camera
- Made:
- 1834-1836 in United Kingdom
- maker:
- William Henry Fox Talbot
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LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Licence
Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
LicenseSmall experimental 'Mousetrap' camera with lens, 1834-1836
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
Small experimental 'Mousetrap' camera with lens, 1834-1836
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
Small experimental 'Mousetrap' camera with lens, 1834-1836
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
Small experimental 'Mousetrap' camera with lens, 1834-1836
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum, London
Matilda Talbot
Science Museum Group Collection
Small experimental 'Mousetrap' camera with lens, 1834-1836, made by William Henry Fox Talbot
The Mousetrap camera was a simple wooden box camera with a brass barrel single lens. This camera was likely made by a local joiner, and eventually Talbot built up a set of cameras made from various components. Constance Talbot remarked that these little wooden boxes, scattered across the family home at Lacock Abbey, looked like 'mousetraps'.
Talbot used these simple cameras during his first experiments in exposing light sensitive paper to create an image. It was through this process that he discovered how to make photographic negatives.
Details
- Category:
- Photographic Technology
- Object Number:
- 1937-343
- Materials:
- brass (copper, zinc alloy), wood (unidentified) and glass
- Measurements:
-
overall: 77 mm x 55 mm x 100 mm, .1 kg
- type:
- box camera
- credit:
- Matilda Talbot
