243
Plate, Paper and Film Holders
The earliest removable camera accessory was the plate
holder or dark-slide, frequently referred to in early
literature as the “plate shield.” In Daguerre’s original
specifi cation, the metal plate was affi xed to a wooden
board—the plate holder or frame—with four small
metal bands, an operation which required a hammer
and small nails, before being inserted into the plate
shield for transfer to the camera. In later modifi cations
of this design, the plate was held fi rmly in the holder
by four small corner plates, considerably reducing both
the risk of damage to the plate surface, and the loading
and unloading time.
William Henry Fox Talbot’s specifi cation in his 1841
calotype patent—No. 8842 Obtaining Photographic
Pictures—required the sensitized paper to be “defended
from the light” while being placed in the camera, and
early calotype cameras were supplied with paper hold-
ers either with a removable “screen” or a system of
light-tight doors. As the calotype could be used while
still damp, the holder had a fl at surface, often glass,
against which the (moist) sensitized paper could be
held easily.
In some designs of double-sided holders two sheets
of paper, separated only by a sheet of blotting paper,
were held fl at between two sheets of glass, and exposed
through the glass. In later examples the glass was dis-
pensed with, and the paper was held fl at on a board
by a series of calico strips which also determined the
boundaries of the image area.
Designs for holders for wet collodion glass plates often
included a ceramic trough to catch any residual chemicals
which might drain off the still moist plate surface.
By the early 1850s, plate shields with multiple inserts
facilitated the use of a variety of plate sizes in a large
camera.
As the wet collodion plate had to be coated and ex-
posed immediately before use, holders for that process
needed only be single-sided. Double plate holders did
not enter into common usage until the advent of the
commercially produced dry plate in the 1870s.
The popularity of the waxed paper process in the
early 1850s, permitting negative papers to be sensitized
days or even weeks before exposure, resulted in the fi rst
example of a roll-holder, enabling the photographer to
make several exposures without reloading the camera.
Designed in England by Arthur Melhuish and Joseph
Spencer (Provisional Patent No. 1139 1854), the holder
was loaded with several sheets of waxed paper which
had been taped together to make a continuous roll. In
1855, Humbert de Molard designed a roll-holder which
was loaded by taping several sheets of plain or waxed
paper to a roll of silk. Camille Silvy’s 1867 roll-holder
introduced an early version of a light-tight cassette, and
in 1870 also included a leader of yellow silk to protect
the unexposed sensitised negative paper from accidental
exposure to light.
The fi rst roll-holder to accommodate fi lm was intro-
duced by Leon Warnerke in 1875, for collodion strip-
ping fi lm. The introduction in 1884 of the Eastman Roll
Holder, as an accessory for dry plate cameras, marked
the fi rst such device to enjoy commercial success, its
popularity being enhanced by the fact that it could be
customized to fi t many cameras.
Holders capable of exposing several separate sheets
of paper without reloading were introduced in 1853, an
example being the design of G. Montefi ore Levi, which
could carry up to fi fteen waxed paper negatives.
In the dry plate era, multiple plate holders were in-
troduced enabling several exposures to be made without
reloading.
The changing box performed a similar function, but
away from the camera. Thomas Ottewill’s 1870 design
which held eighteen plates was one of the fi rst, although
George Hare’s 1875 design for twelve plates, available
in a range of formats, was the more popular.Shutters
With the long exposures required with early materials,
shutters were initially unnecessary. Daguerre’s original
camera was fi tted with a swivel plate to uncover and
cover the lens, whereas a later design by Lerebours
utilised a black cloth for the same purpose. Calotype
and early wet plate cameras used a simple lens cap.
As the sensitivity of materials increased, the accessory
shutter, which could be fi tted to an existing camera or
lens was introduced.
The fi rst roller-blind shutter capable of giving repeat-
able instantaneous exposures was demonstrated by W.
H. Cooke in 1853. It fi tted over the front of the lens and
replaced the lens cap. Later designs were fi tted between
the lens and the lens panel, but retained the basic prin-
ciples of Cooke’s design. The Kershaw Instantaneous
shutter of 1885 and the Thornton-Pickard Time & Instant
shutter of 1888 were both popular patented designs.
Pneumatic shutters extended the range of shutter speeds
available from the early 1890s, but by the end of the
century, the majority of lens designs incorporated an
internal shutter.Interchangeable Lenses
Few sliding box cameras were designed to accommodate
more than one focal length of lens, but an early example
to offer such a facility was the full-plate daguerreotype
camera introduced by Pierre-Ambroise Richebourg
about 1842. With the extended focussing range of later
bellows cameras, the interchangeable lens panel became
a much more available option. An early example of a
bellows camera offering this feature was introduced by