Editing Daguerreotype (section)

== Unusual daguerreotype cameras ==
A number of innovative camera designs appeared:

By December 1839, [[Carl August von Steinheil]] invented a small, portable metal camera, which was one-twentieth the size of the camera sold by Giroux. The resulting daguerreotypes were viewed in a special brass viewer. At least ten of these cameras were created.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cornwall |first=James E. |title=Die Frühzeit der Fotografie in Deutschland 1839 - 1869. Die Männer der ersten Stunden und ihre Verfahren |publisher=VWI |year=1979 |language=de}}</ref>

One early attempt to address the lack of a good "fast" lens for portraiture, and the subject of the first US patent for photographic apparatus, was Alexander S. Wolcott's camera, which used a concave mirror instead of a lens and operated on the principle of the [[reflecting telescope]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction |year=1843 |publisher=J. Limbird |page=119}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/re-creation-of-beard-s-mirror-camera-1840 |title=Re-creation of Beard's Mirror Camera (1840) |last=Smith |first=Roger Wesley |date=5 November 2012 |publisher=britishphotohistory.ning.com |access-date=6 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141214031929/http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/profiles/blogs/re-creation-of-beard-s-mirror-camera-1840 |archive-date=14 December 2014 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all}}</ref> The mirror was fitted at one end of the camera and focusing was done by adjusting the position of the plate in a holder that slid along a rail. Designed solely for portraiture, this arrangement produced a far brighter image than a Chevalier lens, or even the later Petzval lens, but image quality was only marginal and the design was only practical for use with small plates.

Friedrich Voigtländer's small, all-metal Daguerreotype camera (1841) was small enough to be carried. It was fitted with a f/3.5 Petzval portrait lens at the front and a focusing lens at the back, and took round plates. Only 600 of these cameras were produced.<ref>[http://collectiblend.com/Cameras/Voigtlander/Daguerreotype-(Metallcamera).html Voigtländer Daguerreotype Camera]</ref>

The directions for the use of the Voigtländer camera read as follows:

<blockquote>Directions for the use of the new daguerreotype apparatus for the making of portraits, executed according to the calculations of Professor Petzval by Voigtländer and Son, Vienna, printed by J.P.Sollinger, August 1, 1841.</blockquote>

<blockquote>The person to be photographed must be seated in the open air. For an exposure by overcast, dark skies in winter 3 ½ minutes is sufficient; on a sunny day in the shade 1½ to 2 minutes are enough, and in direct sunlight it requires no more than 40–45 seconds. The last, however, is seldom employed on account of the deep shadows direct sunlight creates.<ref>5th number of the Verh. d. n. ö. Gew. Verein, Vienna 1842, p. 72. Quoted by {{harv|Eder|1978|p=225}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8078527/voigtlander-daguerreotype-camera-daguerreotype-camera |title=Voigtlander daguerreotype camera|author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Science Museum Group Collection |publisher=Science Museum Group |access-date=4 May 2020 }}
</ref> </blockquote>

The stated exposure times are evidently for plates sensitized with iodine only; improved sensitization methods were just being introduced in 1841–42.

In 1845 Friedrich von Martens invented the first panoramic camera for curved daguerreotype plates with a lens that turned to cover an angle of 150 degrees. It was called "Megaskop-Kamera" of "Panorama-Kamera".<ref>{{harv|Eder|1978|p=255}}</ref>

Netto constructed, in 1841, a studio in which the front part of the camera with the lens was built into the wall between the studio and the adjoining darkroom, the rear part of the camera being inside the darkroom.<ref>Nordisk tidskrift för fotografi (1920, p. 119) quoted in {{harv|Eder|1978|p=256}}</ref><ref>[http://hem.bredband.net/tjmop/giroux_sweden.htm Photographic studio according to Netto 1842]</ref>