Skaife's Pistolgraph Camera

Made:
1858 in London
Skaife's Pistolgraph Camera Skaife's Pistolgraph Camera Skaife's Pistolgraph Camera Skaife's Pistolgraph Camera Skaife's Pistolgraph camera, 1858 Skaife's Pistolgraph camera, 1858 Skaife's Pistolgraph camera, 1858

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

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Creative Commons LicenseThis image is released under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 Licence

Buy this image as a print 

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License this image for commercial use at Science and Society Picture Library

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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