Information and discussion on all aspects of British photographic history
Hi,
I was unaware of your discussion forum and having only joined and approved last night, having a skim around the topics, blog and articles I can see me winding away more time here over the coming days and months, so thank you to the site manager for allowing me to join in.
I was reconmended to join your discussion forum by the Photography & Imaging department, British Museum and post my quest for learning more about a mystery camera I inherited from my late parents but was sadly discovered too late to ask any questions about the origins and history of the camera.
So I have fingers crossed that someone here may have more knowledge than the other avenues I have tried to far over the past three years of searching.
The camera in question is a Plessey Dynamics Entry Speed Camera mkII and film viewer unit which possibly was used to record the calculation of take-off and/or re-entry of aircraft or maybe missiles, and may have been attached to an aircraft or ground unit based on the design of the housing unit (my educated guesses)
In my searches across the web, other camera forums, book writers and U.K museums no mention of the camera can be found - so it remains a mystery even though this is a mkII version and maybe there was a mkI but no records found even though the units have identification plates.
For your interest I have so far tried:
The British Museum are kindly passing it on to some ex-colleagues, but also suggested a theory
"Many years ago, at the BM we used to use a periphery camera. Initially developed as a camera for scientific uses, we purchased one to photograph the exterior or interior of vases. What it did was to ‘unfold’ a scene that may run completely around a vase, therefore seeing the scene in one photograph.
I see in one of your photographs, at the front of the camera is a lever that says ‘slit width’. That made me think of the periphery camera but working in a slightly different way. The way the periphery camera worked was to place the object to be photographed on a turntable, and as a continuous photograph, a sheet of 5x4 film was placed in the film holder on the camera. Immediately in front of the film was a slit. Therefore, as the turntable rotated the slit traversed the film exposing slices of the image.
I was wondering that with your camera, instead of taking one image, the slit traversed the film stage. Which would make sense if it were an aerial shot because as the aeroplane flew, it would take a continuous image until it had traversed the frame. This would give a wider image than a convensional one shot image, but distortion free. It would then move the film on for the next picture."
Phew - well that's the story so far, with a few replies hopefully to come from some other museum curators like the Museum of Flying at Middle Wallop when they reopen.
So without further ado pictures attached with identification plates for your interest.
And thanks for taking the time to read about my quest - fingers crossed you can help.
Alan.
Tags:
Hi Alan & I think we talked about this camera a while back and you sent me some photos (see attatched) but I can't recall how we left things (probably my age).
Plessey were a large company and I noticed the name plate on your camera also mentioned Hartly Lamps, Romford. When I looked for more info on them I nearly fell of my chair as at one time they were based in St Neots, Cambridshire less than a mile from where I live!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley_Aircraft_Landing_Lamps
I spoke to Liz Davies at our local museum and they have some details on Hartley which may lead you to some further info on the camera. Can't promise, but you never know.
https://www.stneotsmuseum.org.uk/visit/
Tell Liz I sent you and let me know how you get on.
Regards
Tim Goldsmith
Hi Tim,
Yes we spoke back in September last year and sent you the images, but didn't hear back. But with everything that's been going on, most people I chat to have more important things to do than research an old camera, and sometimes I wonder where the time goes during these surreal times, roll on 2022 ;-) But it's always nice to chat to anyone who is prepared to listen to my quest and thank you for any time you spent looking for me.
Thank you also for the above link, and I'll drop LIz a message and let you know.
All the best.
Alan
Victoria and Albert Museum's photography collection
National Science and Media Museum
RPS Journal 1853-2012 online and searchable
Photographic History Research Centre, Leicester
Birkbeck History and Theory of Photography Research Centre
William Henry Fox Talbot Catalogue Raisonné
British Photography. The Hyman Collection
The Press Photo History Project Mapping the photo agencies and photographers of Fleet Street and the UK
The correspondence of William Henry Fox Talbot
Historic England Archive
UAL Photography and Photography and the Archive Research Centre
Royal Photographic Society's Historical Group
www.londonstereo.com London Stereoscopic Company / T. R. Williams
www.earlyphotography.co.uk British camera makers and companies
Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock.
National Portrait Gallery, London
http://www.freewebs.com/jb3d/
Alfred Seaman and the Photographic Convention
Frederick Scott Archer
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