Camera Caerulea Magna

The Camera Caerulea Magna (Big Blue Camera) was the prototype Camera Eccentrica.  It’s a 10×8″ format sliding box camera, designed around a 1920s Ross Xpres 12″ f/4.5 lens.  It was a steep learning curve in camera design, but continues to be Pete’s ‘go to’ studio portrait camera, more often with a 13″ Cooke Anastigmat on a tilt/swing mount.  It has cheerful beach hut architecture in heavenly blue – a deliberately un-camera-like colour. The “Doors of Perception” form a useful shade for the ground glass screen, and there’s a cherub “target” – something for sitters to focus on while the picture is taken.  It featured Pete’s first guillotine shutter, a simple yet effective device which has since been adapted to vintage lenses of all shapes and sizes.  See Shutters to find out more…