Old and small glass negatives, wich camera?

[Grainy]

Just out of curiosity I bought some old glass negatives at a second hand shop. But I've never seen so small glass negatives before. Can anyone give me information about wich cameras/time period these negatives could be from? I would like to find out more about the negatives.

As you can see on the picture below there are three pictures on each glassplate and the glassplate is only 8cm long.

Dead Link Removed

 

[Grainy]

nobody knows?

 

[Vaughn]

Are they negatives or positives? The last one on the right looks to be a positive -- the others are too dark to tell one way or the other. if they are positives, then they might have been created for a slide show (magic lantern sort of thing). And if that is the case, then we are one step away from the camera that made the original images, which makes it difficult to tell much about the camera (other than there may not have been neither enlargement nor reduction done in image size).

Who knows? Maybe we are looking at the first family slide show!

Vaughn

 

[Grainy]

It's negatives.

 

[ic-racer]

Those are pretty neat. Maybe from one of those early spy cameras.

 

[Vaughn]

It's negatives.

Then I don't have a clue.

Did the way you photographed the slide make them appear to be positives? That right image, if a negative, looks to then be a photo of a man in a black suit in front of white trees and a black sky. Odd!

Are the image closely related, or are the subjects more random?

 

[Grainy]

The pictures on the negatives are typically family "snapshots" and a couple of street photos. I bought tre glass negatives like the one on the picture above.

 

[Vaughn]

The pictures on the negatives are typically family "snapshots" and a couple of street photos. I bought tre glass negatives like the one on the picture above.

Great! Might be an early attempt at small format photography before or right at the time of the development of flexible film stock. Any clue as to location from the negatives?

 

[Grainy]

Are they negatives or positives? The last one on the right looks to be a positive -- the others are too dark to tell one way or the other. if they are positives, then they might have been created for a slide show (magic lantern sort of thing). And if that is the case, then we are one step away from the camera that made the original images, which makes it difficult to tell much about the camera (other than there may not have been neither enlargement nor reduction done in image size).

Who knows? Maybe we are looking at the first family slide show!

Vaughn

You are correct Vaughn, it's positives. I haven't looked at the for some time and thought I scanned them as negatives, but I didn't.

So they are all positives.

 

[Grainy]

Are they negatives or positives? The last one on the right looks to be a positive -- the others are too dark to tell one way or the other. if they are positives, then they might have been created for a slide show (magic lantern sort of thing). And if that is the case, then we are one step away from the camera that made the original images, which makes it difficult to tell much about the camera (other than there may not have been neither enlargement nor reduction done in image size).

Who knows? Maybe we are looking at the first family slide show!

Vaughn

Is it certain that since it's positives the pictures on the glass is only reproductions?

 

[Vaughn]

Is it certain that since it's positives the pictures on the glass is only reproductions?

No certainty, but the probability is high that these would be B&W slides contact printed from camera negatives...just because that would be a lot easier. Identification hinges a lot of the actual age, too. The first roll film base material may not have been stable enough to use in the high heat of the magic lantern shows, so might have been contact printed onto glass instead of more roll film. Just guessing here.

What is interesting is that the size of the piece of class is about the same as a microscope slide