Otto Pfenninger
Otto Pfenninger (5 April 1855 – 20 March 1929) was a founding member of the Swiss Photographers Association (1886) and a pioneer of colour photography. He moved to Brighton, England where he developed his career as a photographer. In 1906, Pfenninger built a special camera to his own design using 3-colour separated plates from which full-colour photographic images could be created.
Otto Pfenninger
Otto Pfenninger · The National Archives (United Kingdom). · Public domain
- Name
- Otto Pfenninger
- Born
- 5 April 1855
- Died
- 20 March 1929
- Place of death
- Mitcham, Surrey, England
- Field
- Photography
- Nationality
- Switzerland
- Occupation
- photographer
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Otto Pfenninger (5 April 1855 – 20 March 1929) was a founding member of the Swiss Photographers Association (1886) and a pioneer of colour photography. He moved to Brighton, England where he developed his career as a photographer. In 1906, Pfenninger built a special camera to his own design using 3-colour separated plates from which full-colour photographic images could be created.
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Otto Pfenninger was a Swiss photographer. The photographer was born in Switzerland. Otto Pfenninger was active in photography.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
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Biography
Biography
That summer Pfenninger used this tri-colour, single exposure camera to create some of the first colour photographs, using the parks and beaches of Brighton as scenes. His camera was based upon J.W. Bennetto's one-shot camera of 1897 in which three separation negatives were obtained at a single exposure. Pfenninger tried to use the same system but found that the refracted image was shorter from top to bottom, his solution was to add a glass plate at the same angle, but opposite direction, to the Bennetto reflector. In 1921, under the pseudonym O. Reg, he wrote Byepaths of Colour Photography in which he discusses in technical detail, the history and theory of developments in subtractive colour photography.
A photograph of two girls in Brighton, England, UK, holding the Union Flag.
Otto Pfenninger · Otto Pfenninger, Two children leaning together, three quarter length, holding Union flag (1910).jpg, from The National Archives (United Kingdom).
A photograph of two girls in Brighton, England, UK, holding the Union Flag.
Otto Pfenninger · Otto Pfenninger, Two children leaning together, three quarter length, holding Union flag (1910).jpg, from The National Archives (United Kingdom).
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Otto Pfenninger • Born — 5 April 1855 • Died — 20 March 1929 • Place of death — Mitcham, Surrey, England • Field — Photography • Illustration — Colour photograph taken by Pfenninger in Brighton and registered for copyright in 1910 • Illustration — Three colour lantern slide of children playing on a Brighton beach 6 August 1906
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1855
Otto Pfenninger was born on 5 April 1855.
1929
Otto Pfenninger died on 20 March 1929.
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authority file
- VIAF cluster 142367799 for Otto Pfenninger, aggregating national library name authorities.
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reference work
- “Otto Pfenninger”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q7109766: Otto Pfenninger
General reference · Wikidata
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Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.GRO Croydon Vol. 2a Page 912
- 2.Otto Pfenninger - Brighton Photo. www.photohistory-sussex.co.uk.
- 3.Brighton and Hove Natural History and Philosophical Society, Abstracts of Papers, Pfenninger lecture 6 December 1907, accessed 17 September 2011
- 4.E.P. Dutton & Co., New York. The book bears no publication date and other sources state 1924
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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