Houghton 'Triple Victo' Half-Plate Camera

"Triple Victo" half-plate field camera by Houghtons, fited with a Thornton-Pickard shutter, and lens made by R. & J. Beck, and two plate holders.

This is a Houghton “Triple Victo” field camera, a foldable plate camera from around 1900.

George Houghton and Son was a major London camera manufacturer of the 19th and 20th centuries. The Triple Victo camera was launched around 1899, well made, but intended as a low cost field camera for the amateur, costing £3 and 15 shillings – cheaper than Houghton’s other field cameras. Adverts declared it to be, “an example of good camera making at a really reaonable price.”

It could be folded up for transport and was intended to be used on a tripod. Exposues were taken onto a glass plate coated in light sensitive chemcials, which was developed to produce the final photograph. “Triple” refers to the fact that the bellows can be extended three times further than a typical field camera to allow better close up photography of distant objects, almost like a zoom lens.

Like many early cameras, this Triple Victo has parts from other manufacturers. The lens is by the London based optical company R & J Beck, and is fitted with a roller-blind shutter manufactured by Thornon-Pickard, a Manchester camera firm.