1. a photograph made by a collodion process on a thin sheet of iron coated with a dark enamel, popular in the 19th century
Usage: also called tintype or melainotype; historical photography term

Examples

• The museum displayed a collection of ferrotypes from the Civil War era.
• She discovered a ferrotype of her great-grandmother in an old trunk.
• Ferrotypes were inexpensive and durable, making them popular among ordinary people in the 1800s.
• The ferrotype process produced a direct positive image without a negative.
• Collectors value well-preserved ferrotypes as important historical artifacts.