A solution of pyroxylin (soluble gun cotton) in ether containing a varying proportion of alcohol. It is strongly adhesive, and is used by surgeons as a coating for wounds; but its chief application is as a vehicle for the sensitive film in photography.
Highly flammable, sticky pale yellow liquid solution of nitro cellulous, alcohol and ether. Originally used as a liquid bandage by the military, collodion was found to be the perfect base for holding sensitizing solutions to glass in a photographic process, which became known as the wet process.
A solution of cellulose nitrate compound in a mixture of alcohol and ether. It was used in photography as the basis for the wet collodion process from the 1850s.
a colorless syrupy solution of pyroxylin in ether and alcohol; used as a coating for wounds or photographic films
Nitrocellulose dissolved in ether. Forms a thin, flexible, transparent layer on evaporation of the solvent.
A transparent syrupy solution of pyroxylin (a nitrocelluose) dissolved in ether and alcohol. The collodion process was used as the basis for photographic emulsions in the wet-plate process starting in 1851. It was popular until the development of the gelatin dry-plate some 30 years later. It was more light sensitive than either the daguerreotype or the calotype allowing for exposure times as short as five seconds. (Upton, Collins)
The wet-collodion process was invented in 1848 by F. Scott Archer. Collodion (cotton soaked in nitric and sulfuric acid and dried, then dissolved in a mixture of alcohol and ether to which potassium iodide had been added) was poured onto a clean glass plate and immediately sensitized by bathing in a solution of silver nitrate. While still wet the plate was exposed in the camera and developed. Dry-collodian processes were tried in the 1850s and 1860s, essentially working to extend the time between preparing the plate and exposure, but inconsistent results and longer exposure times kept the dry process from becoming popular. (Baldwin, 29)
A generic term for any process using collodion as a binder for the light-sensitive silver salts. Collodion lay at the heart of many negative and positive processes on glass and paper following its introduction in 1851. Various adaptations were devised, and broadly fall into two general categories; wet collodion and dry collodion. For an account of this process see Thomas Sutton, Dictionary of Photography, (London: Sampson Low, 1858), pp. 121-140. Exhibits created using this process
A mixture of guncotton dissolved in ether and alcohol, first used as a bandage for wounds - the solvents would evaporate quickly, leaving behind a tough clear film. In 1851, Frederick Scott Archer used this to adhere light sensitive silver salts on glass. Exposed and developed while still damp, the process was commonly known as wet collodion and produced a detailed negative in a relatively short exposure time. Later in the 19th century factory-made dry collodion plates were perfected. Later, it was used to make a printing paper.
invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. The negative was produced by hand coating a sheet of glass with an application of guncotton dissolved in ether (collodion) and potassium iodide solution and sensitised with silver nitrate. The plate was exposed (early versions were exposed whilst still wet) and developed immediately on location.
The collodion wet-plate process was invented by Fredrick Scott Archer in 1848, published in 1851, and practiced as the most popular negative process from the mid 1850's until the 1880's, when it was superseded by the gelatin dye plate. A glass plate was evenly coated with collodion, made light sensitive, exposed, and finally developed, all before the emulsion dried. The resulting negative, after being fixed and washed, was ordinarily varnished to preserve and protect it. Although the glass was fragile and the process was awkward (having to be performed quickly and in the dark while the plate was still wet) the advantages greatly outweighed the disadvantages. Unlike the Daguerreotype, the collodion process produced a negative from which multiple prints could be made. Also the exposure time was considerably less than that demanded by other processes. Collodion wet-plates were most often printed on albumen paper.
soluble gun-cotton, dissolved in a mixture of ether and alcohol.
a transparent, syrupy solution of pyroxylin (a nitrocellulose) dissolved in ether and alcohol; used as the basis for the emulsion in the wet-plate process