Manhattan Optical Co. (Cresskill, NJ)
Wide Angle Wizard - c. 1896
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times
Almanac for 1898,
ads p. 55
5 x 7
Notes: The
label on the inside surface of the right-hand door reads: "Wide
Angle / Manhattan Optical Co. of N.Y. / Cresskill, N.J.". It is
shown with its normal lens and shutter installed. The "wide angle"
aspect of the camera comes from two features: 1) the unmarked,
rotating-stop wide angle lens that screws to the left-hand side of the
bed when not in use, and 2) the struts, which extend beyond a 90°
angle, allowing the bed to drop down, out of the field of view of the
wide angle lens.
