{"id":34454,"date":"2026-06-30T01:03:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T05:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/?p=34454"},"modified":"2026-06-30T00:19:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T04:19:22","slug":"weird-cameras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/weird-cameras\/","title":{"rendered":"weird cameras"},"content":{"rendered":"
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C P Stirn concealed vest camera from c1890 courtesy of Science and Media Museum in the UK<\/p><\/div>\n

Toronto<\/strong>. In the 1870s dry plates began to get traction and the day of the hand-held camera began. \u00a0And briefly some cameras used clever disguises and were called detective cameras.<\/p>\n

Over the years many odd looking cameras were developed with the occasional one reaching market. An example is a novel flat and round camera<\/a> hidden under a gentleman’s vest – the camera took a few shots on a round ‘dry plate’ via a lens peeking out from a vest button-hole. The camera and its sequel were made in Germany and sold in the Big Apple by C.P. Stirn c1886-92.<\/p>\n

I only saw one and it was in our spring 2003 mail order auction (see the post ‘close to the vest<\/a>‘). \u00a0Many other strange cameras were kept in the research labs and never saw the light of day on the retail market.<\/p>\n

Our 2026 events are well in hand. Of course you may not spot a Stirn – or other weird camera – at our events, but you will have fun and a chance to add an interesting item to your collection and user gear.<\/p>\n

Up next is our delightful outdoors event held each July. This year the ‘rain or shine’ Trunk Sale<\/a> is on July 12th. New this year, it will be on the grounds of the Legion Hall #101 (where we hold our auctions). To ask a question or reserve a spot to sell, email Clint at fair@phsc.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto. In the 1870s dry plates began to get traction and the day of the hand-held camera began. \u00a0And briefly some cameras used clever disguises and were called detective cameras. Over the years many odd looking cameras were developed with … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[302],"tags":[500,34,105,14,279,388],"class_list":["post-34454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activities","tag-accessories","tag-cameras","tag-digital","tag-film","tag-lenses","tag-trunk-sale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34454"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34458,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34454\/revisions\/34458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}