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LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 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-SA 4.0
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Buy this image as a print
BuyLicense this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library
License
Skaife's Pistolgraph camera, 1858
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Skaife's Pistolgraph camera, 1858
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Skaife's Pistolgraph camera, 1858
Science Museum Group Collection
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum
Skaife's pistolgraph camera, 1858, made by Thomas Skaife of Blackheath.
This brass camera with a Dallmeyer lens has been described variously as the first hand camera, the first miniature camera, or the first 'detective' camera. It accommodated 28mm diameter exposures on wet collodion plates. The double-flap shutter worked by elastic band and achieved exposures as brief as 1/10th second. Few were ever made as it was not entirely successful as a camera; results were best viewed with a magnifying glass.
Details
- Category:
- Photographic Technology
- Object Number:
- 1977-578
- Materials:
- brass (copper, zinc alloy), tin plated, glass and wood (unidentified)
- Measurements:
-
overall: 95 mm x 134 mm x 250 mm, .55kg
- type:
- camera
- credit:
- The National Media Museum, Bradford
