the worlds oldest camera

[BobHunt]

was auctioned off for 800,000 dollars! It was made in 1839, and was a daguerreotype (hope I spelled that correct) in its original state. It was in a loft in Munich since 1940. It looks like a large box type structure......quite a difference when compared to a modern digital, dont you think? My, hasnt photography progressed! Im not sure but wasnt it dangereous at one time to develop your own negatives? Was it the solution that was used?

[Joel Merrill]

was auctioned off for 800,000 dollars! It was made in 1839, and was a daguerreotype (hope I spelled that correct) in its original state. It was in a loft in Munich since 1940. It looks like a large box type structure......quite a difference when compared to a modern digital, dont you think? My, hasnt photography progressed! Im not sure but wasnt it dangereous at one time to develop your own negatives? Was it the solution that was used?

I haven't read about it in a while but I'm pretty sure it was mercury that was somehow made into a mist.

Another very primitive camera that some of us still like to play with is a pin hole camera. I have a book on it and have played with it when I had my darkroom set up. You use regular film so it is not dangerous. What is unique is that there is no lens. You make a really small hole in a really thin piece of metal, I used shim stock, and your light goes through that. You can use almost anything for a camera as long as it is light tight. In a dark room you put your film in one end and have that pin hole in the other. You put a piece of tape over the hole and take it to where you want to take the picture. Then you take the speed of the film, the diameter of the hole and the amount of light and calculate you exposer time. It is common to have exposures of 10 minutes! You tape the camera down to something solid, remove the tape from the hole, and start timing. Pin hole pictures are not as sharp but they have extreme depth of field because of the really small hole or aperture. So the best pin hole pictures take advantage of that depth of field. You can google pin hole cameras if you want to see some pictures or find out more.

Joel