Ajaloolised fotokaamerad Tartu Ülikooli muuseumis

Abstract

Historical photo cameras at the University of Tartu Museum The University of Tartu Museum has exhibits dating back to the beginning of photography. There is an incomplete wooden camera, of which only the immovable ground box has survived. Based on the inventory number of the Department of Physics that is on the camera it was obtained in 1852. The measurements of the camera are 17.6 x 13.5 x 9.0 cm, the length of the stand is 24.5 cm. The camera also includes two wooden boxes for daguerreotype plates. In the larger box, there are six galvanically silver-plated daguerreotype plates in the size 108 x 8 0 x 0.5 mm by the French company 30 GARANTI HOUSSEMAINE. The smaller box holds five 80 x 69 x 0.5 mm galvanically silver-plated plates. The mark of the company is H. B., image of an eagle, 30. The company has not been identified, it is probably French. The other slightly larger wooden camera has remained intact. The measurements of the immovable part are 20.0 x 19.2 x 8.8 cm, the width of the outer side of the moving part is 4.0 cm, the total length of the camera stand is 26.0 cm. The diffused glass in the wooden frame is 11.4 x 12.6 cm. There is no lens. Neither of the cameras has the name or symbol of the manufacturer. The article also provides a short overview of the history of covering daguerreotype plates with a layer of silver, i.e., mechanical and electrochemical plating (electroplating), and matters related to researching the history of the daguerreotype. The article covers the discovery of galvanoplasty, i.e., electrotyping (plating) by the University of Tartu Professor of Architecture Moritz von Jacobi, and the debates over priorities. While studying the characteristics of the Daniell cell in the laboratory of the university’s chemistry cabinet in 1837, M. v. Jacobi discovered that the layer of copper that deposits on the cathode is an exact replica of the surface patterns of a copper cathode. When he examined this phenomenon closely, he immediately sensed the practical perspective of the discovery and notified the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences where the description of Jacobi’s discovery was presented at the Academy’s session on 5 October 1838 and published in the Academy’s French-language journal. This piece gives a short overview of the history of the darkroom or camera obscura from ca 500 BC until the first cameras in the 19th century AD. The main focus is on authors who have explained the nature of the darkroom or improved and updated its construction.