>From Dick Eastman's  newsletter today: August 02, 2010 1848 Daguerreotypes of Cincinnati Listen to this article. Powered by Odiogo.com Ff_daguerreotype6_fIn 1848, Charles Fontayne and William Porter produced some of the best photographs ever produced at the time: a panorama spanning some 2 miles of Cincinnati waterfront. They did it with eight 6.5-by 8.5-inch daguerreotype plates, a then-new technology that in skilled hands displays mind-blowing resolution. The plates have been preserved. Three years ago, conservators at George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, began restoration work on the deteriorating plates. It wasn't until then that photography historians realized just how good the pictures were. When displayed at 30-power magnification, you can see curtains in distant windows and even identify individual spokes on wagon wheels. The daguerreotypes were beginning to deteriorate so conservators placed them in a case filled with inert argon gas to arrest the deterioration. The images were then digitally scanned by specialists at the University of Rochester. Were your ancestors in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1848? If so, you can see what they saw. Even better, the pictures also show what life was like in most any mid-western city of the day. You can view Charles Fontayne and William Porter's daguerreotypes at http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/07/ff_daguerrotype_panorama/all/1