RECREA TION. 



xix 



Ray Cameras 



$2.50 Excel all Others $5.00 



We were the first and original manufacturers of a $5*00 plate camera. 

 Others have imitated us, and still imitate us 9 None excel 



10,000 Sold in One Month 



Show they have merit and why others imitate them. Before buying a 

 Camera send for our descriptive circular and price-list. Sent free. Four 

 cents in stamps for mounted photo made with the Ray or Ray, Jr. It costs 

 less to make pictures with the Ray than any other camera of equal 

 size. Complete Outfit and Instructions how to finish your own pictures for $ \ .50 



MUTSCHLER, ROBERTSON & CO. 



J77 MAIN STREET : s : ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



Is a moonlight picture admissible to 

 your competition? The one I send you was 

 exposed from 7.30 p.m. to 12.15 a.m., Car- 

 butt's eclipse film. Are the white spots 

 stars, and what do you make of the thin, 

 light streak over the house? Here I've been 

 loading my plateholder by moonlight, for 

 years, supposing it had no effect. I don't 

 for a moment suppose we could take a 

 prize, with our one horse outfit. Have not 

 even a graduate glass; have to guess at 

 everything; but if moonlight goes we'll fix 

 one up as a sample. We can find another 

 to go with it. What a great variety of 

 photos you must get, in this competition! 

 James Fullerton, Ten Sleep, Wyo. 



Answer: Your moonlight photos at 

 hand. They are exceedingly interesting, 

 but even the best one is scarcely strong 

 enough to reproduce properly. It is hard 

 to explain what a photograph must be, in 

 order to reproduce by the half tone proc- 

 ess, but it must be sharp, clear, deep and 

 brilliant. It takes a fine lens — one costing 

 $25 or more — to make a picture that will 

 give creditable results in this way. There- 

 fore, these pictures would stand no show 

 of winning a prize in my competition. 



Your largest picture is remarkably good, 

 considering the conditions, and your his- 

 tory of it is deeply interesting. The white 



streak you refer to, over the house, is the 

 track of a star that moved that distance 

 during the time of exposure. 



You have certainly injured your plates in 

 loading by moonlight. I have loaded many 

 plates in camp, at night, but always, if the 

 moon shone, or if there was even star- 

 light, I spread a blanket, or a piece of can- 

 vas, over me and over the plates, while so 

 engaged. You can change plates on a dark, 

 cloudy night, if entirely away from the 

 camp fire, or other artificial light, without 

 thus covering yourself and without danger 

 of fogging your plates. 



The white spots you refer to, in the sky, 

 are not pictures of stars. They are simply 

 defects in the negative, or results of im- 

 proper treatment in developing, toning or 

 fixing. The star that made the track is the 

 only one that appeared within the scope of 

 your lens, at that time, which was bright 

 enough to show in the picture. If others 

 had shown they would have left merely 

 white streaks across the plate, as this one 

 did. 



Yes, I have many hundreds of photos on 

 hand, many of which are not good enough 

 to reproduce. They are nearly all useful to 

 my artists, in making drawings, and I am 

 always glad to have pictures, of almost any- 

 thing out of doors. Editor. 



