CARPENTIER MULTIPLIKATOR Kamera

An extremely rare professional multiple-lens wet collodion plate copying camera, for 12 exposures on 9x12cm plates, mahogany dovetail-constructed body, green card bellows, twelve brass bound 15mm aperture lenses, a replica two door shutter for exposing six or twelve views and a replica focusing slide, original green canvas bellows on an adjustable rackwork base, stamped CARPENTIER LYON. These multiple lens cameras first appeared around 1870. Due to the high cost of portrait work photographers could produce multiple low cost postage stamp size portaits. Carpentier was a camera manufacturer of high importance who manufactured the Cinematographe for the Lumiere brothers. Literature: Paul Henry Van Hasbroeck (1989), 150 Classic Cameras p.38. See Michel Auer (1990), The Guide to Antique Cameras no. 2451