How do you set shutter speed on Seneca Special 5X7?

[R. Juan Clements]

I'm a 49 year old photography 'student' and an avid ebayer. I have owned and used several MF cameras in 6x45,6x6,and 6x7. I now want to lear n Large Format. I recently bought a Seneca Special 5X7 in original case, early 1 900's I supect. I cleaned the lens ineer and outer on a Wollensak shutter, Roche ster, NY, checked the bellows and went on to discover the speed setting consists of T, I, and B. That's it, no numbers, no nada. My next step is have the 'only speed' measured and go from there. Unless there is an option. Help! Here I am searching the web for I truly believed one could find anything on here . I have yet to find anywhere on the web that my 'new' 5x7 ever existed. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, rjon7777@yahoo.com

[David R Munson]

T and B are Time and Bulb respectively, but you probably already know that. The "I" setting is "instantaneous," I do believe. How instantaneous "I" really is, I couldn't tell you, but I probably wouldn't put it much past 1/25th of a second, assuming that the shutter is workingn properly.

[Doug Paramore]

Dave is correct that the "I" setting was usually 1/25th of a second on the old shutters. You can actually get by pretty good with one shutter speed, plus bulb. Zillions of Packard shutters were and are still being used with a single shutter speed of 1/25th. Your Seneca camera is not an oddball. A lot of them were sold in the early part of this century. A trip through the history section of this forum should turn up some answers for you. As for the shutter, you can remount the lens in a different shutter or add a newer one by either making a new lens board or adapting the one you have.

Regards,

[premortho]

A TBI shutter? What more do you need? I've only used Packard Shutters in Large format (5X7 and up) since the early 1950's. What you do is decide what you want to shoot, then buy film the speed you will need at the aperture you prefer. I shoot paper negs (Ilford RC paper), asa about 6, Arista edu ortho, ortho about asa 25, and arista ultra 100 at about asa64. You have to use a tripod anyway, so use bulb when 1/25th is too fast. When you need slower speeds, learn to say "click" for 1/10th second, "click-uh" for 1/5th, "one chim" for 1/2, and "one chimpanzee" for one second. Once you'vew done this a few times, you're times will be surprisingly accurate. Consistancy is more important than dead 'nads accuracy, anyway. I normally shoot between f11 or f12 up to f32 or so. But that's because I never went for the "f64" look myself

[Peter Gomena]

Here's a link to some Seneca camera information. Not sure if yours is listed, but it may give you some historical background. http://www.piercevaubel.com/cam/seneca.htm

Your particular lens may be listed in the old brochures archived on the Camera Eccentric website.

Peter Gomena

[Steven Tribe]

I doubt this is the original lens/shutter combination for the Seneca 5x7". 5x7" was an upmarket model and would, I think, have has a shutter with a selection of speeds rather than just TBI. These early complex shutters have not lasted too well - but you should be able to find the right model in a working condition - or one from a decade later that are a bit more reliable.

[Louis Pacilla]

I believe this is your camera.

FYI- If you click on the attachment thumbnail a second time you can then do the ( Ctrl +) thing to enlarge the attachment for easier viewing.:)

[premortho]

American manufacturers have always tested the market by offering budget priced versions of their upscale product. The "cheap" way was by offering a rotary or sector shutter at the bottom. 4X5's for example. The Seneca Special 5X7 was offered with a Wollensak shutter, a TBI, pneumatic release...to test the market. As it worked out, most people wanted 4X5's for photo scrapbook pics. by paying the same price, they could get one step up multi speed shutter and a couple or three extra sheet film (or plate) holders. I never really came to grips with this until I bought a 1898 R.O.C. catalog for Premo cameras, which showed the intricate steps of sophistication in cameras of this type.
I doubt this is the original lens/shutter combination for the Seneca 5x7". 5x7" was an upmarket model and would, I think, have has a shutter with a selection of speeds rather than just TBI. These early complex shutters have not lasted too well - but you should be able to find the right model in a working condition - or one from a decade later that are a bit more reliable.

[Larry Gebhardt]

I think this has to be close to a record for the age of a revived thread on this site.

[premortho]

You don't think that the information in this thread has any value now?

[Larry Gebhardt]

I was only making an observation on the age of the thread. I'm sure the new posts have value, but maybe not to the original poster who has only made this one post.

[premortho]

I really wrote that information for other newer people who have the same problem, or think that they do. If you come to large format from 35 mm, or medium format, it's not easy to visualise the differences. You might occasionally use a tripod in 35, but it's really optional. With large format, the sooner you get used to using a tripod, and then learning what a liberating influence not having to worry about shutter speeds is, it's like a whole new world. I think in the smaller formats, shutter speed is more important because of the neccesity of stopping motion. The only large format cameras that I know of used to stop motion are press cameras. So I guess I think that 35 and MF shooters concentrate on stopping motion, and LF shooters concentrate on in-focus,out-of-focus issues and deal with this with their choice of f-stops, shutter speed is used only to correct exposure.