Collodion: Tintype Camera

Collodion sees light the way a glass plate did in 1851. The wet-plate process was blue-sensitive and blind to red. Lips go dark. Skin turns to porcelain. Freckles come forward. Blue skies burn to white. Collodion reproduces that spectral response, not a sepia filter on top of a modern photo, so your plates look like they were pulled from a darkroom tent, not a preset. THREE PLATES • Tintype — warm silver on black iron. The classic. • Silver — a clean studio plate. Cool and sharp. • Ambrotype — collodion on dark glass. Milky and soft. A REAL CAMERA • The plate look is live in the viewfinder, so you compose in 1851. • Tap the shutter, hold still, and watch the plate develop. • Petzval fall-off: the plate is sharp at the center and softens toward the edges, the way an 1850s portrait lens drew. • Exposure, grain and edge softness dials. Nothing else to learn. • Front and rear cameras.…