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article on the first Daguerreotype camera lens

Toronto. Years ago when the late Don Douglas and I did our dog  and pony show for the PHSC, I did a brief review of the black and white processes in the 19th century while Don used his Ansco camera collection to discuss camera evolution.

I was always amazed at the long transition period for each new process before it took the lion’s share of the market from the established process. In this century, many of us have seen in person the transition from film to digital took over a quarter century – and film continues on with a strong niche segment of film aficionados continuing to use this older technology.

My first digital camera had a 1.3mp sensor and speeds around those of fast films. Today the cameras (including smart phones) can have sensors up to around 60mp and use fancy computer code to reduce or even eliminate noise in the image.

Some professionals like the late George Hunter used a ‘split’ setup. Film cameras were used to capture the images, then the negatives were scanned into electronic files and moved to a program such as PhotoShop to make the traditional darkroom adjustments and more before printing on an inkjet printer. Scanning, PhotoShopping, and printing was far faster and allowed far more adjustment than the old darkroom setup.

I realized the decision in the 1800s to go from Daguerreotype to Wet-plate was a serious business decision. Photographers had spent money to purchase Daguerreotype materials and learn the necessary skills to be successful. To gain the technical benefits of wet-plate required a whole new process; new camera; and other equipment and training for initially no benefit to the bottom line (as the accountants would say).

Equipment for technology old and new can be found at our 2025 events. Coming up is our famous fall fair: “The Big One”, as the late Larry Boccioletti described it. The date is October 19th, 2025. Details are in our summer newsletter, PHSC News 25-7.