Niepce & the Vue du Gras

"Le point de vue du Gras" is coming to Europe again! Yep, so I don't have to go to Austin, Texas, to see the world's first (surviving) photograph in real live. The famous Niepce picture, that he took from a window on the first floor of his house way back in 1826, is part of an exhibition in Mannheim, Germany. It can be seen in one of the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums from September 9, 2012 until January 6, 2013.

Unretouched and uncropped version of the Vue du Gras photo, plate size 16.2 x 20.2 cm.

Helmut Gernsheim rediscovered the Niepce photo in 1952, after it had been lost since 1898. To celebrate the 100th birthday of Helmut Gernsheim, 250 milestones of photography will be exhibited in Mannheim in the  Forum Internationale Photographie on the 4th floor of the Museum Zeughaus. The Museum Zeughaus is one of the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museums in Mannheim and is located in the C5 quarter. Read more about the Geburtsstunde der Fotografie on the site of the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums.

This photograph was made with a sliding box camera that is still kept at the Musée Nicéphore Niépce in Chalon sur Saône. 

On the internet and in the standard literature there is not much to be found about this camera, although it is an interesting apparatus. This "Chambre de la Découverte" as it is called is about 30.5 cm wide and 31.5 cm high. It consists of two boxes. The front box holds the lens. The top half of the front panel can be taken out, allowing a single lens to be mounted in a groove in the front panel.

The back half is really the most interesting. It holds a frame that can be rotated around a horizontal axis. On this frame a second frame is mounted, that can be moved up and down. This sounds like the first tilt and shift movement in a camera, but I do not know if the mechanism was meant for this. The sliding movement could just be meant to accommodate several plate sizes.

Here are two pics from a film in which a reproduction of the camera is shown. In both the mechanism of the sliding and rotating frame is visible. In the second photo the frame is tilted.

As far as I know the sliding frame did hold the light sensitive plate. The plate rested against the larger tilting frame. The window in this frame is slightly less wide that the opening in the sliding part. You can see the effect of this construction in the original (uncropped) Vue du Gras photo. There is a no-image border to the left, right and bottom of the plate, but the image extends to the top of the plate. This is in accordance with the frame construction, where the top part of the scene is not blocked by the frame mechanism. Remember that the image is up side down in the camera.


So far so good. I hope one day to visit the museum and see the camera in real life. For now I have to do with the 1/6 scale model I made of it (height is 5 cm). It was an interesting undertaking, in which I had to find as much information about the camera as I could and study all the details. This is a great way to learn a lot. I got no help from the museum (thank you very much!), so I had to guesstimate the size of some parts, but I think the model is quite accurate.

1895 Eastman Bullet photo & other Kodak rarities

This week I added a rare photograph to my collection, that was made with the first model of the Kodak Bullet camera. There is no text on the mount stating "made with the Bullet camera", but there is a hand written date of July 1895. At that time the only Kodak camera for 3 1/2" square photos was the No. 2 Bullet, model of '95. This  camera was introduced in March 1895. The next model for this size is the No. 2 Bull's-Eye, which appeared in August 1895. The Bullet was replaced with the Improved model in April 1896. The camera is not well known and relatively rare.

I'm always looking for original photographs to go with my cameras and I consider this pic as a great find.

The 1895 model No. 2 Bullet with fake
crocodile  leather.

Earlier this year I added a No. 4 Panoram photo (size: 30.2 mm x 8.5 mm) to the collection. It is an interesting pic of an old fort, a house and a man under a tree. The picture is framed but when I took it from the frame to scan it I noticed a faint hand written text on the back: Miss Turnbull 3774 or 3114. Maybe this number is a telephone number, but until now I could not find a Turnbull with this number in the old directories. I wonder where the picture was taken and I hope that the name/number combination can shed any light on this. Anyway, the photo is nice and I share it with you here.

Some other niceties at eBay are, to start with, an envelope with a 1888 Kodak ad on it. It sold for US $ 127.50. This truly is a rare item and a fine addition to any Kodak collection. I can't remember seeing one of these before.

A Brownie Gift box went for $ 156 to a new owner. It is the box only, no contents. The Gift Box was made in 1924 and aimed at the '24 Christmas market. It contained a No. 2 Brownie camera, two rolls of film, an instruction booklet, a portrait lens, an album, glue, a booklet "At home with the Kodak". It is considered a rare item.  See this website and this one for more photos and a description.

New addition: Susse Freres camera

Well, what do you expect after 30 years of collecting early Kodak cameras? I guy might want to try something else, nothing wrong with that. But what can you do? Leica? No, I'm more a wood and brass man. So why not go for the best: daguerreotype cameras. And what is better than the first commercial Daguerreotype camera? So I set my mind on having a Susse Freres camera.

First a bit of history before I go to my newest addition. On 22 June 1839, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre signed a contract with two manufacturers to produce the first cameras, Alphonse Giroux and the Maison Susse Frères of Paris. The Giroux camera is well known today, but the Susse Freres camera was only known from a Susse Freres ad. This ad dates 10 days before Giroux announced his camera. In 2007 a Susse Freres camera was auctioned at Westlicht of Vienna and sold for € 576,000. This camera was originally owned by Prof. Max Seddig (1877-1963) who was the director of the Institute of Applied Physics in Frankfurt am Main. Seddig gave the camera to his assistant, Günter Haase, as a present. Prof. Günter Haase died on February 20th 2006 at the age of 88 and left the camera to his son, Prof. Wolfgang Haase.

Susse Freres Daguerrean camera that was sold at Westlicht in 2007.

Enough of history. How did I get mine? Imagine a little shed in the shade of trees. An elder tree is hanging over the roof. Inside is a workbench with tools, an old cabinet and shelves with boxes on it. From this little shed came my camera. Admire it in the video below.

How do you like it? But before you get too enthusiastic (or maybe jealous?) let me tell you the whole story. When I decided some weeks ago to keep my photographers studio model, it struck my mind that it would be nice to have a Susse Freres camera in it. I have admired it since I first saw it in 2007. So I set to work to make one. Not full scale but on a 1:6 scale. First I did some research to find the exact dimensions of the original. On a Spanish wiki page I found the sizes, but these seemed not to correspond with the photographs I had. I asked Westlicht and Jo Geier from Westlicht provided the correct dimensions (the Spanish wiki corrected the information). The real Susse Freres camera is 52 x 37.5 x 32 centimeter (LxWxH) so my model had to be 8.7 x 6.2 x 5.3 centimeter. I had a nice piece of wood I could use for the project and I started shaping all the panels and wooden parts. From a sheet of 0.5 mm brass I made the lens tube and other metal parts. The original camera is stained black, so I could not simply paint my scale model. I blackened it with a marker and wiped the ink with turpentine on a cloth. This gave a very good effect. I used a real lens with the proper focal length for the scale model, so there is an image on the ground glass.

I am pleased with the result and I liked making the model. Now of course I have to have a Giroux camera... and the 1826 Niepce camera... and a Fox Talbot mouse trap camera.... I'm afraid I found myself a new hobby.

Goodbye to Venetian Cream & hello to George Eastman on YouTube

For many years I have been using Venetian Cream to restore the worn, faded, scratched, scuffed and dried out leather on antique cameras. It worked miracles. Alas, the manufacturer stopped making it. Now I will have to start experimenting again with home made concoctions of leather dyes, shoe cream and the like. I am not amused! But maybe someone out there knows the perfect alternative....

This week I found a video about George Eastman on YouTube (actually three consecutive videos) that is worth while to watch. The story it tells is well known, at least to me, but there is some nice footage in it about Kodak Park that I have not seen before. Actual movie footage is rare and mostly panning and zooming in on photographs is used to give a film like effect.
Embedding the videos is not possible, but here are the links and a few screenshots:

Video 1  Video 2 Video 3

Brownell in the camera factory

Emulsion cooking

Last but not least, there has been another goodbye this week: I have given away my Durst M605 enlarger with Componon S 80 mm lens and all the dark room paraphernalia that I still had. I had not used it for many years and I am pretty sure I never would use it again. So, good bye fine instrument.

1870's photographers daylight studio

In 1988 I started preparing a photohistory exhibition to celebrate the 150th anniversary of photography in 1989. I had a large room in a local museum to my disposal and I started to design the exhibition. Among other things I wanted to show the evolution of cameras and the impact of inventions on the kind of photos that were made. With the help of some fellow collectors I managed to fill a 20 yard glass wall with all sorts of cameras and photos from the first hundred years of photography.

In 1988 I had also researched the 19th century photographic history of the city of Roermond, close to where I live, and was able to show all the interesting products from the local photographers, from tiny lockets with portraits to a large panoramic photo of the building of a bridge over the river Meuse in the early 1860's.

What I did not have was a photographers daylight studio. So I set to work to build one. I decided to make it on a 1 : 6 scale, simply because I had two Barbie dolls that I "borrowed" from my eldest sister, and they measured about 28 centimeter. Maybe a bit tall for 19th century people, but it would do. I had a nice library on the history of photography, so I had enough information to put together a studio like it would have been around 1870. During more than one year I worked on it, making two studio cameras (one is a four lens cdv camera), props, head rests, the glass roof and curtains, a table and tiny albums and photos on the walls of the studio. A friend made the clothes for the dolls.

During the past 23 years the studio was stored at the home of my parents. Now my mother is moving to a home for the elderly and I had to decide what to do with the studio. It is a bit too large for my museum and I prepared to sell it. This weekend I took a number of photos that I was going to show on eBay. While I was taking the pics my wife suggested that I should consider again if I really wanted to sell the studio. Well... you probably know how it ended. Although it is too large for my museum I decided to keep it a little longer. I just have to move the glass cabinet a bit to the left and the chair a bit to the right and I will also have to find a new place for a little table, but then the studio will fit into the room.
Here's a video showing my scale model of a 1870's daylight studio.

Two new videos

Between the clouds of today I was able to shoot two videos of my newest additions. First there is the No. 5 Eastman Plate Camera, Series D, that I have described before. In the video you can see it with the full extension of the bellows. It is an impressive instrument of good quality. In its day it cost US$ 97.00. In 1902-1903 that was quite a bit of money if you consider that the average year income of a public school teacher in 1900 was $ 328.

In the second video you see a wooden version of the Boston Bull's-Eye camera of 1892-1895.

No. 5 Eastman Plate camera & No. 3 Eastman Plate camera

Today I finished working on the No. 5 Eastman Plate camera and I can say that I am satisfied with the result. Here's the result of all the TLC, Venetian Cream, metal polish, furniture touch up pen, Tana colorless cream, glue and spit. Yes, spit is very good for cleaning wood and ivory. The only part that is missing, is a little key on the side, like the one you can see in the pic below. Maybe you have one left over....

In the photo the camera is extended to two-third of the maximum extension. I would have liked to extend it to its maximum, but the tripod is too flimsy to safely hold the instrument when it is extended to a total of over 50 cm. The double extension on the Eastman Plate Series D models is necessary when only the front or back element of the combination lens is used, and this is done for wide angle or tele photography.

Today I did not only finish the "restoration" of the No. 5, but I also bought a No. 3 Eastman Plate Series D camera on eBay. As far as I can judge the instrument looks nice and only needs some minor amount of TLC. It is a small and neat camera and will make a fine trio with the large No. 5 and not so large No. 4. Here's a pic of it.

5 Eastman Plate camera continued

Although I have been very busy working in the garden and laying a stone path from the house to the street, I have found some time to clean and polish my newest addition, the No. 5 Eastman Plate camera. The 10 blades of the iris diaphragm were all in a mess, so I took the shutter apart to see what I could make of it. The mechanism seemed simple enough: ten paper thin blades with a notch of a millimeter on each end. Each notch had to fit into a hole in a ring around the lens. Well, it wasn't as simple as it looked and it took me some time to find a way to keep the damned things in place long enough to assemble the top plate. Finally I put a piece of painters tape under the opening, so the ten blades would stick to it. After some experimenting this worked well. All 20 notches stayed in their hole and the diaphragm worked as smooth as 109 years ago.

In the pic are the two parts of the shutter housing. On the left is the shutter and on the right is the iris diaphragm. What you see is the top plate. Under it are the ten blades. The star in the center is the construction where the ten notches on one end of the blades move up and down when the lever (2 o'clock position on the photo) is moved to open or close the diaphragm.

The re-enforcing of the bellows worked well. All the tears are mended and after cleaning, touching up with some oxblood colored shoe polish (the smallest amount possible!) and treatment with colorless Tana leather cream, the bellows looks as good as new.
The nickel fittings were all very dirty, but polishing improved them a lot. The nickel plating is of good quality, so I had not to be afraid to rub it off down to the brass. Still there is some cleaning to do before I can put all parts together again. Maybe next weekend I can show the result of all the TLC I gave this instrument.

No. 5 Eastman Plate camera

The rare No. 5 Eastman Plate camera I have bought arrived during the past week and I can say that I am not disappointed. It is dirty and some folds of the bellows just behind the lens panel are torn, but it can be made into a fine looking instrument again.

To be able to do so I have taken it apart. All the tiny screws and parts were put in glass jars or small boxes, with a note from what part they were taken.

The bellows will be the most difficult and time consuming to restore. First I thought to just cut off the first fold that is torn and glue the second fold to the wooden frame that holds the lens. Probably nobody would notice. But when I had taken the instrument apart I decided to mend the torn folds. I have done that before with good result, so I should be able to do it again.

The leather on the outside of the camera is dry and scuffed, but a treatment with Venetian Cream usually does miracles with leather. This afternoon I applied a coating of VC and now it is drying. Then I am going to treat the leather with colorless Tana shoe cream to feed it. After a gentle buffing the leather should look at least 100 years younger.

I have been on the hunt for a wooden Boston Bull's-Eye for some time, and now I found one and got it for a very reasonable amount of $$. The camera is missing the handle, but that one I can replace. All the other parts are present, like the brass presure plate in the back that is often gone. There is a bit of wear to the wood of the front top. I will treat that with a furniture touch up pen. The same goes for the scratch on the front.  The camera is still on its way from Texas to the Netherlands, but here's the pic from the auction.

A rare No. 5 Eastman Plate camera & some more Bull's-Eye

Eastman Kodak made three plate cameras during 1902-1904 that were called No. 3, No 4 and No. 5 Eastman Plate. As always the number in the name of Kodak models designates the size of the negative. No. 3 = 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 inch, No. 4 = 4 x 5 inch and No. 5 = 5 x 7 inch.
All three cameras were not made in very large numbers, the No 5 being the rarest with only 500 produced. So when I found a No. 5 on eBay I tried my luck. The instrument needs a good amount of TLC and I guess that is why I got it for a fair price ;-)

The camera is still on its way from Florida to the Netherlands. I hope it arrives soon, so I will see how much tender loving care (Venetian Cream, Tana leather cream and metal polish) it really needs. Anyway, this is a rare high quality instrument and I'm glad I bought it.

In the past weeks there have been some interesting items at eBay. First there is a No. 3 Combination Hawk-Eye (on the right), made by Blair around 1904. It is a rare instrument that was designed to use roll film and also allow focusing on a ground glass. That is a bit of a strange combination because you have to move the film out of the way to insert a ground glass. There are several solutions and this camera is one of them. It sold for US $ 241 at eBay, not too much if you consider that it is in a nice condition and also quite rare.

Another combination camera is for sale right now (on the left). It is a No. 8 Folding Buckeye from the same period. The camera is not in a good shape and needs restoration. Starting price is $ 199, no bids yet and 4 days to go.

The No. 4 Screen Focus Kodak was Eastman's answer to the combi question. See mine here.

A rather strange item that was for sale is a 4 x 5 plate back for a No. 5 Cartridge Kodak. This camera takes 5 x 7 inch pics, so a plate back for 4 x 5 inch is not what you would expect. I thought there could be a mistake in the description, but after some mails there is no question about it, this is a 4 x 5 back for a No 5 Cartridge Kodak. I searched all the catalogs for such a reducing back, but they were not offered in the regular catalogs. So maybe this is a one of a kind item that was made on request for a customer. I sold for $ 23.

Last but not least an update on the 4 x 5 Boston Bull's-Eye. I have written an article about it for the Dutch Photohistorisch Tijdschrift, as an update on my 2007 article about the Boston Bull's-Eyes. When searching for new information I found an ad in the American Amateur Photographer of December 1893. It mentions the "new 4 x 5 Bulls-Eye", so I presume the camera was introduced around that time and not in 1892 like the regular Boston Bull's-Eye.

I also unscrewed the front of the camera to find out what is behind it. (I did that 40 years ago with the Kodak box of my parents and after that I refused to work again.) What I found is a very simple rotating shutter that was later used on the Kodak Bull's-Eyes and Bullets. Here's a pic.