Plate camera
A plate camera is a photographic recording device for photo plates made of glass as the carrier material for the light-sensitive layer. Other photosensitive materials, e.g. B. for daguerreotypes or calotypes were used. The use of plate cameras was typical of the early days of photography .
In the beginning, the plates had to be coated with the light-sensitive material in a light-tight tent when taking pictures outdoors, exposed immediately when wet and immediately developed on it. With an advanced process, this could be done dry, which significantly reduced the equipment required. Nevertheless, the weight of the glass plates was still considerable and the material made them fragile. These problems were only eliminated through the use of sheet film (layer support made of acetate , later celluloid ).
A great advantage of the glass plate negatives in contrast to the modern and smaller film formats was that, due to the large format, pin-sharp contact prints could be made on photo paper as the end product - the glass plate negative was always as large as the desired print. Huge cameras were built for large-format mountain shots, which several men had to carry to the relevant location.
Today's large format cameras for sheet film , roll film or instant film cassettes and back parts for digital image recording are often incorrectly referred to as plate cameras.
See also
literature
- "Historical Cameras 1845-1970", James E. Cornwall. vwi-Verlag, ISBN 3-88369-115-1 , 1979, chapter on plate cameras.