Old Timey Camera

[generalmeow]

I built an old timey camera and took my first picture yesterday.

In a nutshell how it works is that I cut a piece of glass to size (4"x5"), coat it with chemicals, put it in the camera, take off the lens cap to expose it, and then develop the piece of glass. So the picture itself is on a piece of glass. That is called an ambrotype. You can also coat a piece of metal (commonly called a tintype, but depends on the type of metal you're using). This is exactly how they did it in the 1800's (which is why this picture looks like it came from the 1800's).

There are no negatives, and every one is one of a kind. You probably can't tell from the picture of the picture, but it's unbelievably sharp (it intentionally goes out of focus around the edges due to the lens) and really stunning to look at. You'd have to see it first hand to do it justice. The edges of the photo look kind of cool, but it's not really supposed to look like that. The chemical coating started peeling away from the edges, which I'll have to fix on the next one.

The camera is built out of 3/4" plywood and the lens is an old movie projector lens.

Photo was taken during the Broncos game yesterday: