Difference between revisions of "Ferrotype"

From Camera-wiki.org
Jump to: navigation, search
(Links to old auction catalogue listings of Ferrotype cameras; added to caption. Moved text up.)
(Added a bit more text about the different shapes of ferrotype cameras.)
Line 13: Line 13:
 
French photographer Adolphe A Martin was the first to use this process, in 1853.
 
French photographer Adolphe A Martin was the first to use this process, in 1853.
 
A dry ferrotype processes later replaced the wet-plate system.
 
A dry ferrotype processes later replaced the wet-plate system.
As the process could be carried out inside the camera and needed no drying time, dry ferrotypes were popular with "while-you-wait" beach and street photographers<ref>''Focal Encyclopedia of Photography'', Focal Press, 1976 edition, p.588</ref>. Some cameras were advertised specifically for this purpose, such as the [[Mandel-ette]].
+
As the process could be carried out inside the camera (or in an attached developing tank) and needed no drying time, dry ferrotypes were popular with "while-you-wait" beach and street photographers<ref>''Focal Encyclopedia of Photography'', Focal Press, 1976 edition, p.588</ref>. Some cameras were advertised specifically for this purpose, such as the [[Mandel-ette]]. It was also attractive that the plates were very much cheaper than those for Daguerrotype.
  
Since the image must be viewed from the silvered side of (non-transparent!) plate, the image is left-right reversed (mirror-imaged) - a fault shared with most [[Daguerreotype Process|Daguerreotypes]].
+
Since the image must be viewed from the silvered side of (non-transparent!) plate, the image is left-right reversed (mirror-imaged) - a fault shared with [[Daguerreotype Process|Daguerreotypes]].
  
 
The process was used in the US until the early 1940s.
 
The process was used in the US until the early 1940s.
  
 +
Many ferrotype cameras are essentially box cameras, with an attched developing tank. Some have a bellows or focusing lens. There are also cameras by several makers of a 'cannon' design. These are usually for very small 'button' plates. Other tintype cameras cover formats at least up to postcard size.
  
 
{|class=plainlinks
 
{|class=plainlinks

Revision as of 22:05, 4 August 2011

Ferrotypes (also known {in the USA} as Tintypes) are photographs made onto black-enamelled iron plates by the wet-collodion process. The black background made the transparent areas of the negative image appear black, and the dark, silvered areas were whitened using mercuric bichloride, and so appear light - in the same way as glass Ambrotypes.

French photographer Adolphe A Martin was the first to use this process, in 1853. A dry ferrotype processes later replaced the wet-plate system. As the process could be carried out inside the camera (or in an attached developing tank) and needed no drying time, dry ferrotypes were popular with "while-you-wait" beach and street photographers[1]. Some cameras were advertised specifically for this purpose, such as the Mandel-ette. It was also attractive that the plates were very much cheaper than those for Daguerrotype.

Since the image must be viewed from the silvered side of (non-transparent!) plate, the image is left-right reversed (mirror-imaged) - a fault shared with Daguerreotypes.

The process was used in the US until the early 1940s.

Many ferrotype cameras are essentially box cameras, with an attched developing tank. Some have a bellows or focusing lens. There are also cameras by several makers of a 'cannon' design. These are usually for very small 'button' plates. Other tintype cameras cover formats at least up to postcard size.


  1. Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, Focal Press, 1976 edition, p.588


Links

Ferrotype cameras in a past Breker auction catalogue: