FSA Cameras

Collodion Chemical Bottles, c1860s

M. K. Sutcliff, Cleveland, Ohio

Wet Collodion

The introduction of Collodion in 1851 by FSA was major advance in photography, which was greeted with considerable enthusiasm by both amateur and professional photographer alike. It was free from any patent issues following the verdict of the Laroche  v Fox Talbot Trial of December 1854; and could be used without fear of court action. 

It was also capable of producing highly detailed photographs which could be readily copied, thus being a marked improvement over the Daguerrotype and Calotype processes.

Collodion was a viscous liquid, made from guncotton, i.e. carded cotton first dissolved in Nitric Acid, then further dissolved in a mixture of ether and alcohol. Gun cotton which had only been invented in 1846, but which quickly found a use during the Crimean war; when it dried it formed a very thin clear film, which was ideal for dressing and protecting wounds. 

Collodion had its disadvantages however. Primarily there was the fact that a wet plate had to be used within about twenty minutes of preparing and secondly because of its slow photographic speed. The preparation of wet plates required numerous chemicals, beakers and liquids, all mixed in the dark in a portable tent if the photographer was planning on photographing away from the studio. However, Frederick Scott Archer developed a special camera which when mounted on a tripod, served also as complete darkroom.

Wet Collodion Camera, 1853

Patented 24th February 1854

Collodion Cameras

While Archer gained very little commercial success as a photographer he maintained his living working precariously as an inventor.

His inventions included a camera inside which the various developing processes for the Calotype could be self-contained (later adapted for Archer's own collodion process by his friend William Morgan Brown of Ewell, Surrey) and a variety of types of lenses.
                    
One of the drawbacks of the collodion process was that it was necessary to develop the photographs within 15 to 20 minutes after exposure; or the collodion mixture dried, resulting in an imperfect image. In about 1852, FSA addressed this issue by developing a specialist camera containing all the necessary chemicals and equipment enabling the plate to be developed in-situ.

On the 24th of February 1854, FSA took out a patent on his folding Collodion Camera [55]. A metal stamp was attached to each of these cameras detailing his patent. It is unfortunate for him that he did not take out a similar patent on his ‘Wet Collodion’ process; and perhaps his life may have turned out like many of his contemporaries who earned fortunes from it. For example, the chemist, Richard Wheeler Thomas (1823-1881), who sold Thomas’ Collodion Mixture, left over 24,000 Pounds Sterling when he died in 1881, well over three million in today’s money.

Archer patented his camera in 1854; but most unwisely chose not do so for the collodion process itself 
                    
He regularly advertised his cameras and lenses in Journals such as Notes & Queries.

Extract from 'The Collodion Chemist', the forthcoming biography of FSA by Stefan Hughes

Sunspots, 1870

Lewis Morris Rutherfurd

Collodion Revolution

Charles Harvard, in an article published in the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer of 10th January 1939, wrote the following:
                    
“Till 1851 photography played only a modest tune, but in that year Frederick Scott Archer introduced the Collodion (or wet plate) process of photography which transformed the entire world of pictorial knowledge. The sensitive chemicals could now be held on a glass plate instead of paper; the time of the exposure was greatly reduced and the range of detail remarkable. Moving objects still eluded the camera, but the great push on had started and everything that could be taken was taken. Mankind was provided with a roving eye and the world was brought to his doorstep.”

These words described perfectly the worldwide revolution in photography that took place in 1851, following the introduction of FSA's wet collodion process.