I Make Cameras

Wet plate photography is one of the first photographic processes ever. It was invented in 1851, and popular until the dry plates came in 1880.

Wet plate collodion is as analog as it gets. You even make your own film. It's a difficult process to master but that's part of the fun. When you get that perfect plate it's like magic.

I love everything about this process, so I even started to make my own cameras. Here are some of the cameras I built over the last years.

Everything is built by me (except the hinges and brass knobs). Woodwork, bellows, ground glass etc.

Hope you like them.

8" x 10" Camera designed and built by me (based on a classic design). Material is Cherry.

(Photo by Dieter Schneider)

5" x 7" Camera designed and built by me (based on a classic design. Material is American Walnut)

(Photo by Dieter Schneider)

8" x 10" camera designed and built by me. Material is Walnut

(Photo by Dieter Schneider)

4" x 5" camera designed and built by me. This is the first camera I built.

(Photo by Dieter Schneider)

Experimental 5" x 7" camera in plywood. Designed and built by me.

(Photo by Dieter Schneider)

Here is a video I did on how I built the plywood camera: