The collodion wet plate was invented by Frederick Scoff Archer, and was in use from the 1850s.

The wet plates had to be hand coated by photographers just before use and then exposed while still wet. Collodion, a flammable liquid, was spread on a glass support, or plate, then placed into a bath of silver nitrate which turned the collodion into a photosensitive silver iodide. This process, including exposure and processing, had to happen immediately before the plate dried, which was about a five minute "window".

For the outdoor photographer such as William Spanton, he had to make use of a Wet-plate Dark Tent which could be home made or bought ready made from about 1860 by firms like Ernest Edwards, Patrick Meagher or Messrs Rouch. Such a tent had to include a sink or water bath, a silver nitrate bath, and facilities to fill and empty these.
Many local inventors tried to improve this process and experimented with their own ideas. In Bury St Edmunds, local chemist Thomas Cooper Bridgman invented a new way of using the collodion photographic process, as reported in the Bury and Norwich Post of 1st June, 1853.

As far as is known, nothing further came of his photographic ideas, and he died in 1859. Bridgman seems to have been an enthusiastic inventor, as in 1852 and 1855 he patented a cornscreen together with Robert Boby which became a commercial success for Robert Boby Engineering.

The silver gelatin dry plate was created by Dr. Richard L. Maddox, and came into use from the 1870s.

Dry plates had a number of advantages over wet plates. The dry plates were easier to transport and use, without the five minute time pressure of the wet plates. This alone was a massive advantage and facilitated their use out of doors, or away from the studio. There was no longer any need to take water and chemicals into the field.

In addition the new plates did not require as much exposure to light. Subjects did not have to hold a pose for such extended periods, and pictures could be taken in lower light levels, whether in the studio or outdoors.

In order to make use of the glass plates there were various types of cameras invented. These all needed to be tripod or stand mounted to keep the plate still during the exposure. There was no prospect of hand holding the camera steady for the many second exposures required.

One remarkable early photograph from Bury St Edmunds illustrates this issue. It is not wholly clear if this picture of the election is from 1865 or 1868, but Mr H I Jarman, who later owned Spanton's negative, was told that the camera was lashed to a lamp post and given a three second exposure. He would have needed a wet-plate tent in which to prepare and develop his plates at this date before the availablity of the dry plate.

In Britain the common sizes for stand cameras were:

• 4 ¼" x 3 ¼", also known as Quarter-plate
• 5" x 4"
• 6 ½" x 4 ¾", known as Half-plate
• 8 ½" x 6 ½", known as Whole-plate
• 7 ½" x 5"
• 10" x 8"
• 12" x 10"
• 15" x 12"

By 1880 half-plate and possibly 5" x 4" were considered the smallest for serious use and fewer stand cameras were offered in the smaller quarter-plate size. After about 1885 quarter-plate became popular especially in cheaper models.

Smaller negatives became more viable when there was was the increasing commercial availability of bromide developing-out paper that could be used in enlarging with artificial light.

In 1895 the firm of Ilford was selling boxes of dry plates all ready for the photographer to use in his camera. Other sellers in the 1890s were Mawson and Swan, Thomas of Pall Mall