CAMERA EQUIPMENT 175 



with the reflecting camera. The American plate, 

 made in Worcester, Massachusetts, is excellent, fast, 

 and cheap. The quickest grades of Seed, Hammer, 

 Cramer, and Eastman plates are also first class. 



As between plates and films, I find plates generally 

 preferable, being faster, cheaper, and easier to manip- 

 ulate. Their weight and liability to breakage are 

 the objections, but I do not consider that these out- 

 weigh the advantages. With careful handling and 

 packing I have never had a loss through breakage, 

 though sometimes on expeditions requiring many 

 plates I have paid express or excess baggage. For 

 the slower exposures, films will answer, if one cares 

 to pay the price, but one should use cut films, and not 

 films in rolls, so as to be able to give each exposure 

 separate and careful treatment. 



That the tripod and focus-cloth are needed acces- 

 sories almost goes without saying, yet there are a few 

 suggestions to make even about these. The tripod 

 must be carried about with the general camera, hence 

 it should be of light weight, yet not so fragile that it 

 will not be practically rigid. It certainly must be 

 firm if one would do successful telephoto work. Pref- 

 erably it should fold in four sections rather than 

 three, so that it can be transported in a suit-case. It 

 is well to have it of some dull, inconspicuous hue, and 

 not to have the metal parts bright and shiny. The 

 focus-cloth likewise should be of a dull color, such as 

 a nondescript brown, at least on one side. It should 

 be waterproof in order that the camera when left set 



