38.'Naturalist' Twin-Lens Camera, c. 1885

Signed on red-stained ivory plaque: 'The NATURALISTS' CAMERA Rowland Ward & Co 166 Piccadilly LONDON.'

Twin-lens magazine camera, in design identical to the No 1 Academy Camera (1881) of Marion & Co., Soho Square, London. The viewfinder and taking lens are both focused by rack-and-pinion movement. The image is cast upside down on the ground glass screen and not the right way up as in the later reflex cameras. Petzval-type f5 lens of 60 mm lens focal length, and spring-loaded rotary shutter. with three speeds and time; The magazine holds twelve gelatin silver bromide dry-plates 13 inches (32 mm) square. The exposed plate is returned to the box by pulling the brass knob at the rear. The next unexposed plate is then put in place by moving the box forward one notch and turning the camera upside down.

Length 160 mm, width 90 mm, height 125 mm.
Inventory no. 62,875.