Page:Bird-lore Vol 01.djvu/265



A New Camera for Bird Photographers BY JOHN ROWLEY Chief Taxidermist of the American Museum of Natural History EELING keenly in my work the need of a camera which would enable me to make studies of birds and animals, I have for several years been experimenting with devices which would be more suitable for my purposes than any of the ordinary tripod or snap-shot cameras of the trade. In 1895 I ordered from Messrs. Scovill l^: Adams a 5x7 'double decker,' built after plans of my own. This camera had twin lenses, one above the other and both of the same focal length. The upper lens threw the image upon the mirror, whence it was reflected to a horizontal ground glass protected by a hood and situated upon the top of the box : and the other lens communicated directly with the plate below, upon which the exposure was to be made. This camera worked very well, but was entirely too bulky, and its large size led me to thinking of means by which one lens could be made to do the work that in the twin-lens two were doing, thus reducing the size of the box one-half. My first idea was to build a box on the plan of the ordinar}' hand camera and place a ground glass on the top. A mirror was then hung in the box at an angle of 45 degrees to the plate and adjusted as in the 'double decker,' but hinged at the back, so that it could be swung up out of the way and the exposure made on the plate at the rear. The lens shutter (a Prosch) was changed so that when open, one pressure of the bulb closed the shutter and released the mirror, which, by means of a spring, flew up and remained clamped to the inside of the top of the box, and shutting out any light that might come in through the ground glass there. A second pressure of the bulb made the exposure on the plate by opening and closing the shutter instantaneously.