Photosphère
|
| Photosphère. Scan by Uwe Kulick. (Image rights) |
The Photosphère is a plate camera designed for use in tropical regions, and therefore, unusually for the time, made of metal. The body is brass, with a silver-coloured plating, usually very tarnished. The front of the body has an unusual hemispherical shape. Within this, the shutter has a hemispherical blind with a hole, which swings under spring tension to make the exposure. The shutter speed is variable by changing the spring tension. Napoléon Conti patented the camera in 1888. About 4000 pieces (all variants together) were made.
Different plate holders could be attached: double dark-slides made of mahagony[1] or steel, or a twelve-plate metal magazine, or roll-film holder.[2][3]
Photosphère n°1
- Type: plate camera
- Manufacturer: Compagnie Française de Photographie
- Year of patent: 1888
- Films: 8×9cm dry plates
- Lens: Cie. Francaise Aplanétique 92mm, or Zeiss Anastigmat 92mm
- Shutter: hemispherical guillotine shutter
- Viewfinder: removable Watson finder[4]
- Type: plate camera
- Films: 9×12cm dry plates
- Lens: Cie. Francaise double symétrique 125mm, or Zeiss Anastigmat 125mm
- Shutter: hemispherical guillotine shutter, 5 speeds
- Viewfinder: removable Watson finder
Photosphère n°3[2]
- Type: roll film camera
- Films: 13×18cm or roll film (48 exposures)[3]
- Lens: Cie. Francaise double symétrique 165mm, or Zeiss Anastigmat 165mm
- Shutter: hemispherical guillotine shutter
- Viewfinder: 2 Watson finders, fitted inside the body, for horizontal and vertical orientation
- Extra: bubble levels for horizontal and vertical orientation
Photosphère n°4 stéréoscopique[6]
- Type: plate camera
- Films: 9x18 cm plates
- Lens: 2× Cie. Francaise Aplanétique 92mm, or Zeiss Anastigmat 92mm
- Shutter: 2 simultaneous hemispherical guillotine shutters
- Viewfinder: removable Watson finder
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 9x12 cm Photosphère serial no. 723, with wooden stand and two wooden double dark-slides, sold at the November 2008 Westlicht auction.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 13x18 cm Photosphère with magazine (described by the auctioneer as for roll film, though it is not clear from the photographs how the magazine works), sold at the May 2010 Westlicht auction. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "W13x18" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ 3.0 3.1 13x18 cm magazine for Photosphère, sold at the June 2008 Westlicht auction.
- ↑ The finders on some examples are simply Watson finders (a reflex finder with a ground-glass screen); others also have a screen at the back, allowing eye-level use. The finders have hinged metal covers over the glass. An example of the eye-level/Watson viewfinder was sold at the November 2011Westlicht auction.
- ↑ 9x12 cm Photosphère, serial no. 1998 in original polished silver finish, with Krauss lens, sold at the May 2006 Westlicht auction.
- ↑ 9x18 cm stereo Photosphère, serial no. 182, with Extra-Rapid Rectilinear lenses, three wooden double dark-slides and focusing screen, sold at the May 2005 Westlicht auction.
