Automatic photographic machine Photomaton

Manufacturer: Siemens & Halske

Place and time of production: Germany, 1928

Dimensions (cm): 180 . 62 . 184

Inventory number: Т:16.56

Automatic photography devices are automatized cabins with an integrated camera and a processing section used to make photographs,negative and positive. The cabins have a seat or a bench that can hold one or two people, as well as curtains, which secure privacy while taking photographs and prevent the mixture of light. Above the camera window, there are flesh holders, used to light up the cabin. 

This type of device appeared for the first time in 1925 in New York. It was constructed by a Russian-born American, Anatol Josephewitz (1894–1980). After inserting a coin, the automatic camera would activate and make eight photographs with pauses, so that the person would have time to change the pose. After seven and a half minutes, the device would produce a paper tape with eight photographs. Over 250,000 people used the automatic device in the first six months after it began operating. 

After the device had arrived in Belgrade, in October 1928, a petition appeared in the newspapers, signed by a certain number of Belgrade photographers, who were afraid of the unfair competition and loosing their job. This device is precisely the Photomaton located at the Museum of Science and Technology, which was bought in France, after it was perfected and adapted for European market by the German company Siemens & Halske. It is a donation by the Lončarević family.