Historical information

This type of camera was widely used from the 1880s to the early 20th century, particularly by portrait and landscape photographers.
Bellows cameras were highly portable compared to earlier box cameras, making them ideal for field photography.
They used glass plate negatives coated with light-sensitive emulsions, requiring long exposure times.
Lancaster & Son of Birmingham was a well-known British manufacturer producing high-quality field and studio cameras.
Most likely used by Horace WOOMLER of Natimuk to photograph life and events in the town between late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Physical description

This is a late 19th to early 20th-century large-format bellows camera, commonly used for plate photography. The camera consists of:
A wooden box frame, likely made from mahogany or walnut, with brass fittings for stability and adjustment.
A black accordion-style bellows, which extends and contracts to adjust the focal length.
A brass lens with a focusing ring, housed in a wooden front panel, which moves forward and backward along a track system for focus control.
A ground glass focusing screen at the back, where photographers would compose and focus the image before inserting a glass plate negative.
Brass knobs, hinges, and fasteners, allowing for precise control of the camera’s focus, tilt, and positioning.
A small nameplate on the top, identifying the manufacturer as Lancaster & Son, Birmingham, a well-known British camera maker.
A lens cap is placed in front of the camera, indicating that this was a manual exposure camera, where the photographer would remove the cap to expose the plate.

Inscriptions & markings

The nameplate at the top reads "LANDCASTER & Son, Birmingham", identifying the manufacturer.