The Birtac 17.5mm film apparatus, convertible as either a camera, a printer, or a projector when patented from June 9, 1898, is frequently referred to as the first amateur moving picture device – but this is incorrect and is based on retrospective judgements from well-meaning, but sloppy historians. 

In mid-1898 there was not yet a clear distinction between the ‘amateur’ and the ‘professional’ in the new moving-picture realm – indeed, there was no guarantee of any stability or longevity for this new technology. Clearly intended for amateur photographers – the cover of its manual stated unambiguously, “The ‘Birtac’ for At Home Animated Photography” – the machine designed and manufactured by Birt Acres in north London, was preceded by the Héliographe of Alexandre Sale and Elie Xavier Mazo in France; by the first model of the Pictorialograph, from J. W. Rowe and Company in London; and in Germany, by the Messter Amateur Kinematograph, which was announced for public sale in 1897. All of these manufacturers, including Acres and even the pioneering Auguste and Louis Lumière (with not only their Cinématographe, but also the Kinora), saw with clear vision the business model adopted  by George Eastman when he introduced the Kodak camera in June 1888 – a camera that radically expanded the still photography market to a general public wanting to make photographs without complication. The enormous success of Kodak inspired many early cinema pioneers who wanted to replicate that achievement, driven by the growing public interest in moving pictures. Equipment manufacturers recognized that developing smaller film formats could significantly reduce the cost of raw film stock for consumers. The Birtac used 17.5mm film instead of 35mm, as did Alfred Prestwich’s La Petite Living Picture Camera and Projector, while the Héliographe and the Mirographe both used stock approximately 20mm wide. But, the widespread adoption of home movie technology was primarily hindered by the highly flammable nature of early film stock used for both camera negatives and positive prints. It wasn't until the 1910s, with the introduction of reliable non-flammable safety film, that the home market for moving pictures really began to flourish.

The Birtac camera-projector was an ingenious, lightweight and elegant design – it could be handheld and it was welcomed widely by the photographic world. Each Birtac was supplied with a plumb-line designed to oscillate three times per second, so that the proper cranking speed of three rotations per second could be maintained. Pre-filmed subjects “ready for Exhibition” in Birtac format were available from Acres in three sizes: 20 ft (7 shillings), 30 ft (10 shillings) and 40 ft (12 shillings). For amateurs wishing to develop their own films, a complete kit was available at two guineas (£2 2s), including a pegged frame onto which the negative, or positive, could be wound so that development could take place in a shallow tray measuring 10 in x 12 in (25.4cm x 30.48cm). Alternatively, Acres manufacturing arm, The Northern Photographic Works in Barnet, north London, provided a complete service, selling 20-ft (6.1m) of their 17.5mm film in a cardboard daylight-loading box, with a long black leader, for 2s 6d. Subsequent processing of the negative cost 1s 6d, with positive prints costing 4s 6d each. This was a replica of the Eastman model for the Kodak camera – with Eastman providing the roll film, processing and prints, without requiring any handling by the photographer. Although undoubtedly a sensible commercial plan, Acres’s Northern Photographic Works was underfunded by its investors and ill-prepared to service a large customer base. When the Warwick Trading Company entered the market with its own 17.5mm amateur Biokam apparatus, in May 1899, Acres slowly withdrew from the market, overtaken by a larger and more substantial commercial enterprise with the capital necessary to survive in a still reluctant, and slow-growing, marketplace.