Stirn camera courtesy of Brian Coe’s CAMERAS by Crown Publishers, 1978
Toronto. The production and sale of dry plates brought with it a different kind of camera, one that could be handheld (by steady hands) or even worn rather than requiring a special support like a tripod.
These cameras, especially those that did not look like a camera, were known as detective cameras. The original idea centred around the turn of the previous century say 1880 to 1920. Illustrated at left is a sketch from the delightful Brian Coe book simply titled CAMERAS and dated 1978.
During WW2, subminiature cameras like the chewing gum package size Minox renewed interest – in what was then called spy cameras.
Today every smartphone has an even tinier built-in camera, and houses galore are protected by so called ‘security cameras’ (and door bell cameras) that can seem invisible unless you know were and what to look for.
NB: This post title is a riff on a movie I saw decades ago called, “The Man Who Never Was“. In particular post title is based on a poem in the film’s preamble: Antigonish [anti gone ish].
