I'm trying to get my head around the use of turn of the century (ok, for you youngsters, that means 1900...) portrait lenses. Looking through my facsimile 1908 sears catalogue I see several lens-shutter units available, Conley astigmat etc., but no shutters sold separately. The catalogue does list, however a Seroco portrait lens, in a variety of plate sizes. This lens isn't shipped with a shutter.
How were these used in the studio? Did the relatively slow speed of a studio mean portraits were always in seconds, and thus perhaps done manually (cap over lens, etc), or was a packard shutter used behind the lens board? The apparent absence of standalone shutters at retail suggest that they may not have been sold separately from lenses at that time...
Anyone fill me in?
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