Why 8" x 12"?

[pgk]

No indication mine was intended for stereo use. It was made by Birnie of Dundee - originally a cabinet maker who moved into photographic sales and seems to have made some cameras, although I can only find one other shown online.

[EarlJam]

There's a reference to 8x12 on a site related to photography in Edinburgh, as an adjunct to 8x6 Cabinet Size images. I suspect the additional width would have been ideal for landscapes, and banquet and group photos.

http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/1_early/...hy_-_sizes.htm

[interneg]

There's a reference to 8x12 on a site related to photography in Edinburgh, as an adjunct to 8x6 Cabinet Size images. I suspect the additional width would have been ideal for landscapes, and banquet and group photos.

http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/1_early/...hy_-_sizes.htm

Given the Dundee connection, would not be surprised if there was a connection to Valentine's output in one from or another - I doubt it had anything to do with DC Thomson & their publishing empire (it's too early). Dundee's not a big city, & the market for a machine like that cannot have been great - and until the 1930's Valentine's offices and works were not just on the same street as the known address of the camera maker, but were only a few minutes walking distance away.

And bit of digging around the edinphoto website does turn up some tantalising evidence about Valentine's format choices - and as 12x10 was not an uncommon camera format in that era, getting a camera made that more closely matched the desired aspect ratio might have been seen as a way to save on the 20% of image area being otherwise chopped off (and confirm prejudices about our nation at the same time...). For a major publisher like Valentine's, getting custom plates made would not have been a big deal - the minimum quantities needed were tiny in comparison to a few decades later.

If it does have a Valentine connection, the collection of relevant material is held at the University of St Andrews & answers might be found there. Dundee City also holds some material too.

[Nodda Duma]

8” x 12” was a standard size. They are listed in advertisements for plate makers in that time. The size was used for group photos or landscapes.

Of course, it wasn’t that common.

Cheers,
Jason

[pgk]

Thanks everyone. I've seen some photographs of Dundee (from the city council I think) which show Birnie's shop which was a reasonably sized establishment. I had assumed that being a small business they built equipment to order (as smaller makers often did) and it may well be that it was made for someone with a connection to Valentines one way or another. As its a sizeable camera and format I also assume that it would have been relatively expensive and more than likely a 'one-off'. Its well made but has some quirks which makes me think that it was not quite as well thought out, or even modified during build, as it could have been. The, obviously original, locking knob for rising front fouls the base so that it cannot fold up quite as well as it might have done so for example - an oddity! What is really nice is that the back removes very easily and will allow me to make up different format back or build simple adapters to use other backs without altering the Birnie camera in the slightest. Lastly, it came with two lens boards. One matches the camera perfectly so is almost certainly original, the other is a of 'ply' construction, consisting of two pieces of wood stuck together with their grain at right angles, and whilst undoubtedly quite old from its patina, isn't original. No lens came with it so I'm debating which to fit or whether to look for a contemporary (~1890) lens with decent coverage (I am unaware of any suitable lenses made in Scotland but if anyone knows of any I'd like to know).