In the days before colour film colour photography was done with multiple pictures taken through colour filters that were recombined using dye techniques to recreate the original image. The JOS-PE tri colour camera was a commercial camera of the early 1930s.
From the Collection of the NZCP
A rare commercial camera from Christchurch. Dating from 1925/1926 the JOS-PE tri colour camera produced three monochromatic 9x12cm negatives on a single exposure that were made through red, green and blue filters. When these were printed in combination with one another using the dye transfer process or into photo engraved plates for a printing press, they produced a colour print which was quite acceptable for the times. It must be remembered that hand colouring was the only alternative before Kodachrome came on the market in the mid to late 1930s.
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Woman's Suede Shoe, 1930s
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This particular JOS-PE camera was owned by Hill-Skinner, an advertising agency in Christchurch, where these promotional photographs of a woman's suede shoe and men's detachable collar shirts were made in the 1930s. Note the layering effect on the edges of the shoe print, a trade characteristic of the dye transfer process.
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Men's Detachable Collar Shirts, 1930s
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Weighing in at around eight kilos the JOS-PE was used exclusively in the studio. Its acquisition for the New Zealand Centre for Photography from the Bruce Watt collection in Palmerston North was made possible by donations from various individuals in 1990, who subscribed sufficient funds to prevent it from being sold to overseas interests.
Please note that articles by Bill Main introducing these cameras (and more) have been published by The Photographer's Mail, Auckland, New Zealand.
© Copyright by Bill Main
©1998 by the New Zealand Centre for Photography, Wellington, New Zealand