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BLAST FROM THE PAST: The Dandycam
Amateur Photographer
|July 25, 2023
John Wade discovers a box camera with some unusual tricks up its sleeve
LAUNCHED 1911
PRICE AT LAUNCH 7s 6d (37%2p)
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Question: Who made the first single lens reflex (SLR) instant picture camera? Answer: Polaroid. Right? Wrong. More than 60 years before Polaroid's remarkable SX-70 instant SLR, the British Butcher company introduced the Dandycam.
It took tintypes, which formed a direct positive image on metal plates. These were circular, 2.5cm in diameter, and the image produced was for inserting into pendants and brooches.
This story is from the July 25, 2023 edition of Amateur Photographer.
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