There was so much to see on a tour of the National Museum of Nuclear Science in Albuquerque but one thing that caught my eye was this 4 x 5 Speed Graphic Camera. These cumbersome cameras were produced from 1912 to 1973, primarily for commercial and press photography. It’s a slow camera with a focal plane shutter. With each exposure, the photographer had to change the film holder, open the lens shutter, cock the focal plane shutter, remove the dark slide from the film holder, focus the camera, and release the focal plane shutter. Each film holder had two pieces of sheet film which had to be loaded in complete darkness. It obviously took lots of patience to get one shot.
