Although the process had first been described by Adolphe-Alexandre Martin of France in 1853, the tintype process was patented in 1856 by Hamilton Smith in the United States. These were relatively simple to create and fairly inexpensive compared to daguerrotypes. They also took a lot less time, as a photographer could have it ready for a customer in a matter of minutes. Tintype was basically a variant of the ambrotype, where instead of using a glass plate, one used a thin sheet of japanned iron. Over the years, it has been observed that the image layer of the tintype is much more durable than that of an ambrotype, which sometimes develops cracks at the surface.
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