250
were extremely unusual in the wet-collodion period
when exposures of several seconds were the general
rule. However, the introduction of more sensitive, com-
mercially manufactured gelatine dry plates in the late
1870s made ‘instantaneous’ exposures fully practical
for the fi rst time. During the 1880s, cameras designed
to be used whilst hand-held became popular. Hand cam-
eras developed along three distinct lines—box-form or
‘detective’ cameras; folding or strut cameras; and hand
and stand cameras.
In 1881, Thomas Bolas took out a British patent for a
box-form plate camera. Because it could be used in the
hand, inconspicuously, he coined the name ‘detective
camera’ for his invention. The term came to be applied
to almost all hand cameras that appeared up to the end
of the century. The fi rst detective camera to be widely
sold was William Schmid’s Patent Detective camera of
- A plain, oblong wooden box, this incorporated
a shutter, focusing system and viewfi nder, which were
to become features of the hand camera. Most detective
cameras were simple wooden boxes, sometimes covered
in leather or even brown paper so as to resemble bags
or parcels. Some, however, took concealment a stage
further. During the 1880s large numbers of disguised
cameras appeared, designed to resemble, for example,
books or watches or to be hidden in ties, hats or walking
sticks or under worn beneath a waistcoat.
During the 1880s a number of designs appeared
for cameras that held a number of plates that could be
exposed successively, thus doing away with the need to
change plate holders after each exposure. Incorporat-
ing ingenious plate changing arrangements, these were
known as magazine plate cameras and enjoyed their
greatest popularity in the 1890s. Examples include,
Rouch’s ‘Eureka’ camera, Marion’s ‘Radial’ camera and
Fallowfi eld’s ‘Facile’ camera—the favourite camera of
Paul Martin. Magazine plate cameras tended to be bulky
and the weight of the glass set a limit to the number of
plates that could be conveniently carried. An alternative
approach was to use sheets of celluloid fi lm. One of
the most popular cameras to use fi lm packs was R & J
Beck’s ‘Frena’ camera, introduced in 1892. However,
by the time the Frena appeared, hand cameras which
used roll fi lm were rapidly gaining popularity.
Roll-holders, which used bands of sensitised paper
as an alternative to glass plates fi rst appeared in the
1850s. The fi rst roll-holder to enjoy any commercial
success was designed by George Eastman and William
Walker and went on sale in 1885. Eastman subsequently
worked on incorporating his roll-holder into a simple
detective camera. However, Eastman was pre-empted
by two other Americans, Robert Gray and Henry Stam-
mers, who patented their ‘America’ detective camera in
May 1887. Whilst it was not a commercial success, this
camera is signifi cant as being the fi rst hand camera to
use roll fi lm. The following year, Eastman introduced
his detective camera which incorporated a roll holder
and gave one hundred exposures on sensitised paper
fi lm. Eastman decided to create a new trade name for
his camera—a name that would be novel, distinctive
and easily pronounced in most languages. The name
he came up with was ‘Kodak.’
The Kodak camera was successful from the start and
it was followed during the 1890s by a range of folding
and box-form Kodak cameras of various formats. In
1900 the fi rst Brownie camera was introduced—the
camera that was to become synonymous with snapshot
photography and was to transform the medium into a
truly popular pastime. In 1889 Eastman introduced the
fi rst commercial transparent celluloid roll fi lm in place
of his earlier paper-based fi lm and from 1895 onwards,
fi lm was supplied in ‘cartridges’ for daylight loading.
Whilst the Eastman Company soon came to dominate
the market, the success of the Kodak prompted a number
of other inventors and manufacturers to design hand roll
fi lm cameras. Examples include L’Escopette of 1888, the
Luzo camera of 1889, and the Prizma Detective camera
of 1890. However, none of these were to enjoy a fraction
of the Kodak’s success and popularity.
Following their initial novelty, box-form plate cam-
eras—except for magazine plate cameras—became
less popular during the 1890s. In their place appeared
a variety of compact collapsing hand cameras in which
the lens panel pulled out, attached to a bag or bellows,
and was locked in position by struts. Strut cameras
had the advantage of being lighter, more compact and
easier to carry than box cameras. A number of popular
designs appeared during the 1890s, including Shew’s
‘Xit’ camera, Newman & Guardia’s ‘Nydia’ camera
and the Goerz-Anschutz folding camera of 1896 which
was to be the basis of most press cameras right up to
the 1930s. Folding roll fi lm cameras also fi rst appeared
during the 1890s. Eastman’s Folding Pocket Kodak
camera, introduced in 1897, was the fi rst of a range
of popular folding cameras. The No 3 Folding Pocket
Kodak camera of 1900, in which the camera front folded
down to form a baseboard along which the lens panel
was drawn out, set the standard pattern for the design of
folding roll fi lm cameras for the next fi fty years.
Following the introduction of dry plates, the fi rst
folding hand cameras were simply traditional fi eld cam-
eras to which a shutter and viewfi nder had been added.
Smaller format fi eld cameras could easily be hand-held.
These evolved into cameras that were made specifi cally
for hand use but also incorporated several features that
were normally associated with stand cameras, such as
rising-front and swing back movements. Since they
could be used either in the hand or on a tripod, they were
known as ‘Hand and Stand’ cameras. One of the most
popular forms of hand and stand camera was introduced