Primer on tri-colour cameras?

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I'm trying to research tri-colour cameras with hopes of eventually buying and using one, but there isn't much information available that I can find. Most searches bring up Prokudin-Gorskii or examples of people's individual cameras but nothing on who made them, or where to buy. I'm specifically looking for names of companies who made these cameras so that it's easier for me to search for one on eBay or at dealers.

Thanks for your help!

- Justin

 

[gordrob]

You might want to try looking for tri-color or one shot cameras made by Curtis, Devin and National Photocolor. They do not come up that often on Ebay and when they do they can be expensive if they are in good shape. Also it will depend on what process you want to use the camera for - Dye Transfer or Carbro are two processes that use separation negatives. Critical to their use is the condition of the pellicle mirrors. Pellicle mirrors were balanced to specific film of the day - mostly Super XX which is no longer manufactured. To replace the 2 mirrors would cost in the area of $250-$300 each. The cameras went out of production towards the end of the 40s or early 50s when transparency and colour film became popular. Separations could be made from transparencies and that meant that lugging around these big cameras to capture colour images was no longer required. The cameras came in 3x4, 4x5 and 5x7 sizes. If you can get a hold of one try and make sure you can get the film holders that are designed for the camera as they were manufactured to ensure for proper registration of the film or glass plates.

Gord