The Victorian Studio Camera

I wanted to use the camera for portraits and for this shot a smaller 12" lens was used, permitting a much closer focus and tighter crop. Here my volunteer Katie is barely 2 ft away from the lens, and managed to keep quite still during the one second exposure, timed by removing the lens cap. She also had to be careful not to move while the ground glass screen was lifted away, the film holder inserted, and the dark slide raised; if she had moved even half an inch the critical focus would have been lost.

I wanted to use the camera for portraits and for this shot a smaller 12" lens was used, permitting a much closer focus and tighter crop. Here my volunteer Katie is barely 2 ft away from the lens, and managed to keep quite still during the one second exposure, timed by removing the lens cap. She also had to be careful not to move while the ground glass screen was lifted away, the film holder inserted, and the dark slide raised; if she had moved even half an inch the critical focus would have been lost.