Beginning of 4x5

[Two23]

I've been looking at old cameras some more, and have been wondering when the first 4x5s appeared. I found the Kodak Premo models from the 1890s--are those the first? What are some early manufacturers of high quality models--American Optical? I would assume these came after 1880 for sure?


Kent in SD

[Two23]

I've kept digging into online resources, and still haven't come up with anything definitive. It's looking like Kodak made the 4x5 film for one of its early Pony or Premo cameras, and then the Graphlex people started using it. This topic seems to have stumped a lot of people! I'll continue to dig.


Kent in SD

[altair]

Kent,

This might help. According to a book I have (Camera: From Daguerrotype to Digital) by Todd Gustavson, there's a table in the appendix listing the Kodak 4 Bullet (http://www.historiccamera.com/cgi-bin/librarium/pm.cgi?action=display&login=no4bulletspecial) as the first camera to produce 4x5" images on No. 103 roll film.

Not sure if that's definitive or not, as the book is rather Kodak-centric. And if you narrow it down to cameras making 4x5" photos just on cut sheet film (not roll film), then maybe the answer is another camera entirely.

Hope this helps.

[Jim Jones]

I believe 8x10 glass plates were used in the Civil War. It seems logical that this would create a demand for minature 4x5 cameras.