Before using cotton all dust had to be removed. Coating the Plate Fix plate silver down in a box with a reservoir of Iodine below. Fuming is to continue until a gold colour is achieved. Exposure in the Camera Giroux Daguerreotype Camera Exposure times range from 3-30 minutes depending upon light levels. This made portraits almost impossible to achieve in the early days.
Images are mostly landscapes.
A viewing window allows the plate to be observed until the image appears. Pour this into a trough.