Film cameras
Little Nipper User manual
User manual for Little Nipper. 21 pages in English. Read the original PDF, download or print a copy without registration.
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Document details
- Brand
- Little
- Model / document
- Little Nipper
- Document type
- User manual
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 21
- File size
- 1.4 MB
- Category
- Film cameras
- Document date
- Not specified in catalog
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Page 1 · Read text
www.butkus.us
to take photographs with FH"*' &Bffiff&ffi WgppffiR
CAM ERA.
Little Nipper Cameras
Make fine Photographers
BRITISH MADEView original page 1Page 2 · Read text
I t- What is Ptrotography ?
sounds a very \V /.HEN you {irst .uy " Photography," it really vFry ea.sy to understand.' W long. word, but it is rr srmply means malring a picture by means of lisht.
and catching the light on a spJcially pr"pur"d surface. Tt i.
prepared surface is called a " plate," which is covered -specially
by an emulsion which makes it look y"llo* and smooth.
and is reflected - Th"- light first goes on to the picture through eye of the camera, which is the lens, on to the -the plate, .which it affects in a certain way. Certain things are
then done to plate which turn itl into a negativJ, and -the from that the pictures are printed on paper.
How the picture comes is explained fully in the pages of
this little book.
The Little Nipper Carnera
and de-
we see
Fixed
foldedView original page 2Page 3 · Read text
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one side we shall find two small levers *ff"r't"" - - On baclrw-ards and forwards. on *ouint lil irt;[-1";;; *ur["J C in;the picture, we find thai the ti.i" i, ltJ i;;J;;;:i;;i
WIRE FRAME
F0R vtEwDtG.
PLATE HOLDER
T4B
Digitally signed by Mike Butkus
manuals, ou=butkus.org,Mike Butkus DN:cameraemail=mike@butkus.org,cn=Mike Butkus, o=Butkus c=US
Date: 2021.07.22 17:37:17 -04'00'
D. tNSTANTANEOUS.
7. & l. LEvgp p6p 15 MADE DIFFERENT €XP@$UQ65. Fig. r '
through.it we can see what looks like a little window.' This is
called the lens, and is really. the eye .i *h;;;;;" t[;;;siwhich it sees the pictur"r *" hop" to *ukeView original page 3Page 5 · Read text
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Let us now see what the other lever (D) does. Marked
close to it there are two letters, " T " and " I." If we put
the lever pointing to " I." and move lever marked C, we find
that the little window opens and shuts again so quickly that
we. can hardly see the glass at all. If we put the lever (D)
pointing " T," and move the lever marLed C, we find that _to
the window opens and stays open until we push lever (D)
back again.
The trvo letters " I " and "T" stand for " Instantaneous"
and " Time." " Instantaneous " is when the little windowope.ls and. shuts very quichly, and " Time " when it stays open
until we close it again.
Let us now have a look at the back of the camera. 'We
shail find at the top a slit, and also tr,r,o metal spring catches,
one each side. If. we.liftthese up we find that tlre back opens
and we can see inside the camlra. We shall see whai the
slit at the top of the camera is for later on.
FIow ttre Plate is put into the Ca,rrrera
Plate Holder.-You will find in the box with the camera
what loolrs like a trittle black cardboard envelope (sce Fig, 2). 'This is called a dark slide or plate holder. To ope; th"View original page 5Page 7 · Read text
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up in the box, and they should be
very carefully handled so that no
finger marks or scratches appear
on the surface.
Making an
Exposrrre
means - - Making an exposure Fig.4 laling a, photograph.-' Vith the " Little Nipper ybu can take two .
1kinds-" Instantaneous when the sun is out and objects in
your picture are moving, and " Time " when your picture is -still and the light dull.
Making an I tt tt Instantaneolrs Exposure
(see Fig. 5)',
First of all we must remember that the sun should always
be either at the bacli or at the side. We will imagine "a
sunny.day. Get into the -rig_ht _position, and turn up thi [ttlewlre -frqqre, which is called the view finder. Take th;" I ittle Nipper " in both hands and press it close to thd nor",
at the same time shut one eye and lobk through the frame r,r,ith
.-.".*-View original page 7Page 8 · Read text
the other (see Fis.7). Do this once or twice to make sure
you can see all right through the little wire frame.
l
Fig. S Making an " Instanhneous " Erposure
Put the lever (D) at "1" \Fis.1). Having made quite sure
that you know how to hold the camera, and that you can see
quite clearly through the wire frame, take one of the dark slides,
open the back of the camera, and gently
lay it in. Close up the bacL carefully,
then gently pull out the little tab until it
stops (see l7is. 6).
Hold the camera firmly against the
nose in the position you have been prac-View original page 8Page 9 · Read text
www.butkus.us tising ; put one finger on the
lever marked C and sraduallv
push it backward. or f"or*urdi
7). as the case may be (see'cameiEis. You must holi the as
still as you can while you are
moving this lever. \(/hen you
have finished, push in the tab
again as far as it will go, and
take out the plate holder.
Making a Exposure .66Tirnett (see Fig. 8)
We have now made a picture with the sun shining.
Un{ortunately, we cannot always reckon to have the run
and therefore, so that we can still use the carnera, we shall move the lever (D) fr.om " I " to " T," and keep the lens
open longer, letting more light through to the plate.
\$(/hen making a " Time exposure, there'are one or two
things which we must not have. Firstly, there must be
nothing moving; and secondly, we must pui the camera down
on a chair or table so that we can hold it absolutely still (you
:,*"1*E*-'-. .View original page 9Page 11 · Read text
tt ttFIow we Develop www.butkus.usand t6 Fix' ' the Plate
First of all we must arrange a room so that it is quite
darL. It really does not matter what sort of a room it is as
long as we _can make it dark. Of course, really the bath-
roo-m is the best place, because we want to have water handy
and it will not matter if we splash the floor a little. If w!
cannot use the bath-room, any other will do, but it is best to
spread some newspaper over the table in case we do make a
little mess. This is only natural, because we must realise that
success in maliing pictures, and for that matter in all photo-
g-raphli, depends entirely on cleanliness, and we must not forget
this all the way through.
Certain things are necessary before we can start de-
veloping, and you have no doubt already purchased " The
Little Nipper Developing and Printing Outfit " (see Fi,g. 9),
which contains everything that is necessary for the making of
pictures.
Light the dark room lamp and put it in a convenient
position.
The next thing to do is to mix our developer. Con-
tained in the outfit we shall find a little packet marked
" developer," and on the outside instructions how much water
l0
ri$tfll$*4"View original page 11Page 13 · Read text
www.butkus.us a must make it up in eood time. It is better if the water is
little warm, although iI must be left to cool before being used.
Searching the outfit again you will find two small oblgng
dishes. On""of these is for- deueloper and one for hypo. Put
these in front of you ; also get a bowl of water in which to
rinse the plates when they are finished.
l All these oreparations can be done with the light turned
on, and being no* t"udy to begin developing, turn out all the
light except the red lamp.
You already know from putting the plate into the plate- { holder which is" the picture side of- the plate, and you will
side. remember that it is tle dull side and not the shiny
Take the plate out of the dark slide a-nd gently lay it into the { dish with ih" drll side uppermost, then pour some of .your developer solution into tfie dish so that it covers . completely
the plate. Rock the dish baclrwards and forwards (ye Fig. 10)
so tlrat the developer is Lept moving all the time. Do not do
this too vigorously or you will spill it.
Now is the time to be verY Patient
indeed. Gradually black marks will ap- --b-- u Dear on the plate-- this is the picture Iril. l0 iorming itself. It will gradually becomeView original page 13Page 14 · Read text
blacker and blacker until it looks as if it is going to be quite
black, and we shall have no picture at all. Be very carefui not
to take the plate out too ,oon o. half the picture will be lost.
t-o way a plate is finished developing is _knoy .The -wher1 - to take the dish and of it out look side. on the vellow at it tf it is finished we shall see distinctly certain-black patches.
Until these are quite distinct leave tlre plate in the d"veloper.
Do not take it out of the developer to lboL at it too often. ^An
extra minute or two will do no harrn.
In the meantime, put a little of the hypo solution into the
other dish.
) the , .Development being finished, take the plate out of
ll and plunge it into the basin of pure water. Hav- f developer ing done. that, put it into the dish of iypo. The appearanceI
of the plate- will be black on one side-and yellow with blacL
patches on the other. It is put into the hvpo in order to cleai
lway the yellow, and to what is called "ii* " the plate, that
that_ the- Iight cannot affect ii any more is to say, .make .it so
after the picture has been developed. Leave the plate in the
hvpo dish until all this yellow hai been taken u*av und a little
longer after that, then take it out of the dish and iook at it in
daylight.
This is the first attempt, and if successful we shall find
that a picture has been formed on the plate, but in what we
r3View original page 14Page 15 · Read text
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call " negative" form; that means that all the things which
were light in the picture are dark on the negative, and all the
things which_ were dark in the picture are light on the 'Wenegative. must not keep the. plate out of ihe hypo too
long for examination, but should put it back in the washing
bowl as quickly as possible, as it must then wash for aboui
half-an-hour under running water. That being finished, take
it out and stand it up on end to dry.
Drying the Plate
(see Fig. | 1)
Find a place which is not too dusty, nor where lany
dusting is going to be done, as the little
particles stick very easily to the plate
before it is dry. Do not try to dry it in
thefront of fire
" emulsion theas all or in any" willtoo warmrun offplace,the
plate and the picture be spoilt.
Ho\M to Make a Print
Another stage of the picture has now been completed,
and we have got our picture on the plate. The next process is
t4View original page 15Page 16 · Read text
priging it. 13 the "Little you wilr find a packet Nipper" outfit of Printing Paper and a Printing Fru*". T"-i;-;i;; p;;fi;
Frame.Frame, pu.li-pusli backback th"the ."i.'h."-o;;--;;il:catch". lui.E
t'lutout therfle middlemtoote part.part.__ LayLay thethe "ndnegatrve,negati
as we wrll now call it in the frame,
shiny side dgwnwards, undo th" pu"L-"i : 9f qaRe;, take out one. sheet Fig. rz ifr the frame ol. "ra't"y-lii;g. i Z)". . !h" plate (ru *,i:fj
The.filling. of the Printing Frame should not be donel and. , crose the ""."#:{;F,l'irl'i,*"iTj, i*, 'lf" rn the sun. s brght light, as you will find that the paper colours very quickly.t . Printing Frames. with th_e- paper in shourd also not be
put in the direct sun, but should te'put f""int-;*uy-f;;; ir.
From time to time it will be neces-
sary to see.how the printing is going on
(see t-is. /.3) but the Printinl Frine must
be open-ed ,very carefully. At one end
of the back of the frame vou will find
a little cut.out piece. Push back the
catches at that end only and pull up the Fig. 13
l5View original page 16Page 17 · Read text
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centre portion of the back which will fold back from the centre.
Lift up the paper gently. taking great care not to move the nega-
tive, and you will see that a picture is already coming on the
paper. This must become very dark before it is ready to be
taken out, and must be printed considerably deeper than you
want the finished picture to be.
When it has reached this state, undo all the catches of
the Printing Frame, take out the piece of paper and put it
pour some then the hypo solution, which of dish;into a you i plate, quickly. rhe covering the dish, the paper to intoused fix
The paper should be left in the little dish for about a quarter {of an hour, then talre it out and wash it thoroughly.
{
Dr:ring the Print
If the paper you are using is matt-that is to say, not a
shiny surface-dry it between blotting paper first and then pin
it up to dry in some convenient place.
If it is shiny or glossy paper it should not be dried on
blotting paper, at least not on the shiny side, but can be
pinned up to dry straight away.t I
-*iView original page 17Page 19 · Read text
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The Little Nipper Postcard Printer
and horu to use it
THE attractiveness of | " Littlei will be Nippergreatly" increasedpictures
when large prints on postcards
are made from the little
negatives. Fis. 14
For the same price as the camera you can obtain the
"Little Nipper" Postcard Printer (see Fi,g. 14), by means
of which you will be able to make prints on postcards,
showing the picture in enlarged form. [t is just as simple
as printing an ordinary picture, except that instead of seeing
your picture on the paper you will have
to develop it out as you would a plate.
The Bromide (that's the sort to asli for)
Postcard is put into the back of the
printer in the dark-room, address side
(sce Fis. 15), and the little Fig. 15 to door
l8View original page 19Page 20 · Read text
wire shutter pushed in. Take the printer into daylight and
select the negative you want. Slide this, rt*oih side,
inwards, into the slots provided at the other end, and stand
$9 R.int"r down so that the negative points to the sky.
Then pull out the wire shutter. If the rLy i. bright, 1""u" lt {
open for about four minutes : if dull, for about double that
time. \(/hen finished, take the enlarger back to the dark- #
room, remove the postcard, and develop, fix and wash it
as-you_would a plate. You must watch the card carefully
i when developing as the image appears on it very quickly.
AII communications to the " Little Nipper " should
be addressed:
c.@ All Photographic Dealers
LTD- \M. BUTcHER ; SoNs , CAMERA HOUSE, FARRINGDON A\|ENUE
LONDON, 8.C.4
_:lView original page 20Page 21 · Read text
Frrrther Progresswww.butkus.us The " Little Nipper " has introduced you to photography,' and if you have carried out his instructions contained in this. booh you will already have produced some very pleasing " is " Little Nipperlittle pictures. You have found that'the iust as capable of making beautiful little pictures. as larger cameras. : f In course of time, however, your photography will have made such strides, and you will be making such good pictures with so little trouble and so much real interest and pleasure, fhat you will feel you want something better. Go to your dealer and ask to see the latest patterns of Butcher's Cameras-you are sure to find something to suit you. There are Carbine Roll Film Cameras, Cameo, Klimax and Pressman Cameras, but you will ma[e a better photo- grapher if you start with the " Little Nipper " Camera because you will know all about how to do things before using tlre more complicated apparatus.View original page 21
From the M. Butkus archive. Original publisher and archive notices are retained.
Check the model and edition against your equipment.
PDF verified 2026-10-10.