Barnett Michael Clinedinst (December 1835 – December 21, 1900) was an American photographer and inventor. He invented the viewfinder and the mirror-and-prism "reflex" arrangement for which the single-lens reflex camera is named.
He was born around December 1835 or 1837 in Woodstock, Virginia.He used "December 1835" in the 1900 United States census. Sources vary as to the exact year: the News-Leader says 1836, the New York Public Library says "ca. 1837", and the Camera Heritage Museum says "1838 abt".Clinedinst's invention changed photography , by Charles Culbertson, at the News Leader (archived at GlobalPhotographyNews); published November 2, 2013; retrieved December 3, 2014 He was a bugler during the American Civil War for Stonewall Jackson.
He died on December 21, 1900, in Washington, D.C. He was the father of Barnett McFee Clinedinst, who served as the official White House portrait photographer for the Presidential administrations of Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson, and Benjamin West Clinedinst, a painter.Paintings and Sculpture in the Collection of the National Academy of Design: 1826-1925, edited by David Bernard Dearinger; published 2004 by Hudson Hills Press (via Google Books)
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