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Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.
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Timothy O'Sullivan, 19th Century LF Wet Plate Box Camera(!)
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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 7:34 pm
Post subject: Timothy O'Sullivan, 19th Century LF Wet Plate Box Camera(!)
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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 7:34 pm
Post subject: Timothy O'Sullivan, 19th Century LF Wet Plate Box Camera(!)
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How the Wild West REALLY looked: Gorgeous sepia-tinted pictures show the landscape as it was charted for the very first time

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He carted a dark room wagon around the Wild West on horseback so that he could develop his images. He spent seven years exploring the landscape and thousands of pictures have survived from his travels.

The project was designed to attract settlers to the largely uninhabited region.

O'Sullivan used a primitive wet plate box camera which he would have to spend several minutes setting up every time he wanted to take a photograph.

He would have to assemble the device on a tripod, coat a glass plate with collodion - a flammable solution. The glass would then be put in a holder before being inserted into a camera.

After a few seconds exposure, he would rush the plate to his dark room wagon and cover it in chemicals to begin the development process.

Considered one of the forerunners to Ansel Adams, ...


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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 7:54 pm
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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 7:54 pm
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Excellent! Thank you for posting. I'm now filled with nostalgia towards something I haven't experienced (in this lifetime anyway).


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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 9:26 pm
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Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 9:26 pm
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Thanks for the link.


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Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 3:52 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 3:52 pm
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Wow, enchanting works, thanks for sharing!
Especially notable is his unbiased eye on the population: quite neutral, with a respectful realistic attitude. Remarkable!


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Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:11 pm
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Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:11 pm
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Super photos. Real history. I wonder how much more of this stuff is out there?

Photographers then were gentlemen of means who traveled long distances to new and strange lands taking photos for the future.


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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 8:56 am
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 8:56 am
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I'll go along with the commentary on this article up to a certain point.
The undeserved, veiled derogatory comments levelled at Edwin Curtis are totally uncalled for,
and express a total misunderstanding of the work that Curtis was doing.

Most excellent work otherwise, especially the landscape work.

-D.S.


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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 9:10 am
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Posted: Sun Feb 07, 2021 9:10 am
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