DANCER, John Benjamin b. 8 October 1812; d. 24 November 1887 Dancer described himself as "Optician, of Manchester, by appointment to HRH the Prince of Wales" and as an instrument maker. His early inventions were concerned with light. In 1837 he applied the "Drummond light" to optical projectors, and it was he who coined the term "lime-light". He also produced cheap microscopes, and used a solar one. Other inventions include an accurate thermometer and an apparatus for checking the accuracy of rifle barrels. He was also reputed to be a first class conjuror and juggler! Though he never invented any new photographic process, his contribution to photography lies in the fact that he saw new applications in existing techniques. In 1853 Dancer constructed the first twin-lens stereoscopic camera, taking up an idea by David Brewster. Up till that time any stereoscopic photography had been done by exposing, moving the camera and exposing a second time - so inevitably these pictures had been of still life! Dancer's new camera, an improved version of which was made three years later, produced two small negatives simultaneously, and had wide angle lenses, and this permitted virtually instantaneous photography and therefore the photographing of moving as opposed to static scenes. It is said that Dancer also made the first photographic lantern slides. Certainly the introduction of the wet Collodion process would have prompted such an application, but whether in fact he was the first to do this has not been confirmed. His photo-micrography work still exists. In July 1840 he made a daguerreotype photograph of a flea, using a gas-illuminated microscope, and he also used a solar microscope. Micro- photographs were then sold at one shilling (5p) each, or ten shillings and six pence (52.5p)for a dozen. Dancer was also an early secretary of the London Camera Club. His contribution to photography has not been sufficiently recognised (indeed, Beaumont Newhall, in his History of Photography, does not even mention him) and it is only more recently that this omission has been rectified.
Š Robert Leggat, 1999. Last updated undefined