245
In Britain from February 1839 Talbot began purchas-
ing cameras, mainly from the London lens and instru-
ment maker Andrew Ross. In 1839 this included three
camera obscuras, a solar microscope and one experimen-
tal camera with four lenses. Ross supplied seven cameras
in 1840–41 and another instrument maker Watkins and
Hill of London supplied a camera and ancilliary equip-
ment. Talbot also purchased cameras from France.
In Germany the fi rm of Voigtländer made an all-brass
camera incorporating a four-element lens designed by
Max Petzval in 1841. The camera was shaped like a
cannon and was set on a brass stand. Plates were held
in a separate metal holder and gave images of 3.7 inches
diameter. Carl von Steinheil also designed a tubular
camera for paper or daguerreotype plates.
The fi rst patent for a photographic camera was Alex-
ander S. Wolcott’s camera for the daguerreotype process
which was patented in America on 8 May 1840 and in
Britain by Richard Beard under British patent number
8546 of 13 June 1840. The boxform camera body made
use of a concave mirror set at the back of the camera
to refl ect the image on to the plate. Antoine Claudet
on 18 December 1841 patented the fi rst camera with
interchangeable lenses for plates of different sizes and
processing taking place within the camera body.
The basic design of camera up to 1850 was the rigid
or collapsible box form camera or the sliding box cam-
era with two or three sections sliding within each other.
Within this basic design there were continual improve-
ments. Willat’s Manual of 1845 shows a camera with a
handle and threaded rod running through the baseboard
to move the rear box for focusing. The camera also had
different positions for the darkslide and focusing screen
within the body of the camera, to allow for lenses for
different focal length.
Most cameras of this period seemed to have been
designed for daguerreotype use, although by the later
1840s manufacturers were usually describing them as
being suitable for paper, glass or daguerreotype pro-
cesses. In 1845 George Knight and Sons advertised
Cundall’s Calotype camera that had fi rst been described
in May 1844 in the Philosophical Magazine. The camera
was of the sliding box type but without a baseboard but
was important as it had a focusing scale, internal baffl es
to reduce light refl ections inside the camera and a lens
with lens hood.
Cameras were made in a variety of plate sizes with
fi ve standard French sizes and four English sizes which
had reduced to seven sizes by the end of the 1840s. Most
cameras were made by established optical or philo-
sophical instrument makers with the British maker’s
favouring mahogany or rosewood and lacquered-brass
and continental Europe maker’s favouring walnut and
unlacquered brass construction.
Michael PritchardSee Also: Wedgwood, Thomas; Niépce, Joseph
Nicéphore; Davy, Sir Humphry; Talbot, William
Henry Fox; Daguerre, Louis-Jacques-Mandé;
Daguerreotype; and Calotype and TalbotypeHenneman. The Reading
Establishment.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Gilman Collection, Gift of The
Howard Gilman Foundation, 2005
(2005.100.171ab(a)) Image © The
Metropolitan Museum of Art.