A tribute camera build: "The Stockwell View Camera"
With the introduction of dry gelatine plates in 1871, photographic innovators could finally devise ways to bring a stack of plates to remote locations and change exposures without a darkroom. One such apparatus, invented in 1874, was implemented the next year in a clever but apparently unpopular camera named after its inventor, Nathan Stockwell . Original and only known example of the Stockwell Camera. Using the then-popular tailboard design with a short bellows, the handsome camera had a swing-out focusing frame that would be replaced by a holder with a quarter-sized plate (3.25" x 4.25") extracted from an auxiliary magazine/loader. The ungainly design favored mainly landscape orientation, but the front featured a small recess for interchangeable lens boards. Overall, it is an attractive, interesting, and useful build project. The focusing back swings over the locking nut by means of a curved cutout. I forewent the idea of reproducing the magazine since I intended to use the