8 BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA 
will, it seems probable, be better served by the re- 
flecting camera described below, while as a finder 
alone its place may be taken by the “iconoscope ” 
and other of the prism finders, the brilliant image 
cast by which is such a striking and satisfactory 
improvement on the hazy outlines given by the 
average so-called “ finder.” 
For use as a hand-box only two kinds of camera 
are available, for it must be borne in mind that 
the set-focus or short-focus, wide angle “snap-shot” 
cameras, so popular among the button-pressing fra- 
ternity, are not adapted to the wants of the bird 
photographer, who must therefore avail himself of 
either a twin-lens or a reflecting camera. 
Twin-lens cameras are manufactured by several 
well-known firms, but the trade size is of too short 
focus to be desirable. In this type of camera two 
lenses of equal foci are employed. They are set one 
above the other in bellows, which move as one. The 
lower lens makes the picture, the upper projects a 
duplicate of the image cast by the lower lens to a 
mirror set at an angle of forty-five degrees to the 
plane of the plate, whence it is reflected upward to 
a ground glass, which is protected by a hood, on top 
of the camera. 
To focus perfectly the lenses should be “matched ” 
or “paired”—in short, interchangeable—thereby 
greatly increasing the cost of the camera, which is 
also rendered objectionable by its large size. 
The reflecting camera possesses all the advan- 
tages of the twin-lens, but requires only one lens, 
and when in use is not materially larger than the 
ordinary 4 X 5 long-focus box. 
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