F W Schmidt was a Manchester-based photographer known to have been active in the first have of the twentieth century. Trained in Austria and Germany in portrait photography, Schmidt appears to have arrived in Manchester in 1902 and established a studio at 26 Victoria Street before moving to no. 6 St Ann's Square. He held an annual photography exhibition there, at which he would demonstrate the results of his experiments with some of the latest techniques in photography, including working with colour and using metallised paper. In addition to photography, Schmidt also worked as a painter of miniatures, using oils and watercolours. One of his miniatures was exhibited at the Royal Academy, and he is known to have shown work at the Manchester City Art Gallery.