The Telephot

Invented by Auguste Vautier-Dufour, from the Vaud, and patented in 1901, the Telephot made it possible to take photographs at a long distance thanks to an ingenious system, which reduced the camera’s bulkiness.

An ardent photographer of the night skies and a lover of telephotography, Auguste Vautier-Dufour had been busy experimenting since the 1890s. After a series of unsuccessful trials, he finally had some good results, some of which were thanks to advice from Emile Schaer, associate astronomer at the Geneva Observatory; this allowed him to reduce the bulk of a camera equipped with a very long focal-length lens.

Two internally-mounted mirrors lengthened the distance which light has to travel by making it run the length of the camera three times, thus enabling it to be more compact in size. It was possible to retract the upper part into the body for transporting.

The patent for the Telephot, Vautier-Dufour and Schaer’s system, was obtained on 14 March 1901. To sell his camera, in 1904 Vautier-Dufour created the VEGA Photography and Optics Company, together with photographer Frederic Boissonnas, located in the rue Versonnex in Geneva, which produced several different models including a stereoscopic Telephot.

Illustration:
Telephot, VEGA, Société Anonyme de Photographie et d’Optique, Geneva, since 1904.
Small model, for a plate size of 9×12 cm.