Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 edition. Excerpt: ... chapter ii. our tools. The introduction of dry plates has revolutionized photography in more ways than one. The immense increase in rapidity has rendered many of the quick-acting lenses--triumphs of the optician's art--almost useless, and in time those prodigious efforts of the camera-maker's genius and French polish, in which some photographers delight, will be looked upon as curiosities, or burnt as lumber. It will be found that the camera of the future will run more to lightness and adaptability. I have always protested against the weight some manufacturers have imposed on photographers, and am pleased to see them working in the right direction at last. There was a time when it was impossible for photographers to get a camera made to their liking, except by the village carpenter. The despotic manufacturer who never used a camera in his life, insisted that he knew better what a photographer wanted than he did himself, and the unfortunate operator had to submit. Many years ago, a famous African traveller asked me to inspect a photographic outfit which had been prepared for him by order of the Government. "What he really required, in my opinion, was about thirty pounds weight of apparatus and materials, neatly packed in a small box, or, to be liberal, say another ten pounds for glass--cost: not more than forty or fifty pounds. It was not necessary that the photographs should be of a large size; and with an outfit similar to this, any intelligent photographer, other circumstances agreeing, ought to be able to give a pretty good idea of Africa. What really was provided was contained in several enormous cases weighing nearly a ton, and which cost several hundreds of pounds. Amongst other absurdities I found that the collection contained...
