Cleaning out an old out building at a house my mom recently moved into.
At one time, someone had a darkroom in this building.
Among all the other items, there was thing here, that looks like a large format camera (I think?)
No name or info that I can find, but it seems very well made.
Any ideas? Is this the correct section of this forum to post this?
It appears to be a 5x7 and is more then likely manufactured by Conoly Cameras owned in the day by Sears & Roebuck way back when.It's just an old camera Not rare and in fact it was an economy sheet film camera of it's day. If the bellows are good it has a bit of value but don't ask how much as gear evaluations are not allowed.
If you are a member here for 30 days you will have access to the "For Sell" section and you can find a price point and sell it. But let me put it this, Don't quit your day job as it's value is not real high.
UPDATE- I just looked again and don't know how I missed this but it has NO bellows. So at this point it's a "Parts camera" In other words worth even less then I originally suggested. which was "not real high".
Last edited by Louis Pacilla; 12-Aug-2015 at 20:20. Reason: add
Yep. That's a camera. Someone else will have to kick in on the brand because I don't know the little details which separate one brand from another.
There were many cameras of this general design made from about 1890 to 1940. Measure the size of the glass panel. This will be the size of film and image the camera makes.
The hole on the other end is where the lens goes. If there are any dusty drawers in the building, I'd look in all of them to see if there is a lens. One never knows. If you can carefully figure out how to open the camera up, it has a bellows which goes between the two ends of the camera. The bellows is frequently made of leather and might or might not still be good. It looks like the bellows are not there if I'm looking at it correctly but opening it would show for sure.
This is a nice old camera handcrafted out of nice wood- looks like cherry. You could clean it and use some furniture polish to make it look nice and get a simple display lens and a tripod and use it as an "art object" in your home or office. If you would like to try to take pictures with it, you could but with difficulty. If there were still film labs around, it would be pretty easy to get some film and take a few and have them processed by someone else. These days, you are pretty much on your own.
And, value. It's a nice camera but it isn't worth a lot of money. If there is a "local history" museum, they might like it to use as part of a display of old pictures of the same era. If there are no bellows, it could be parts for another camera builder.
Thank you guys. I wasn't trying to sell it, just figure out what it is.
I figured a LF camera, but wasn't 100% sure.
I'll clean it up and look for a an old wooden tripod to set it on.
Thanks again.
Have a look at this page. Possibly a "Competitor View"
http://www.piercevaubel.com/cam/seneca/sencomp.htm
Date Introduced: - ; Years Manufactured: c. 1915
Construction: back focus via rack and pinion (two gear tracks on top of the base rails); double swing; reversing by removable back; shifting front standard
Materials: mahogany-finished wood (but not mahogany), nickeled brass hardware, leatherette bellows
Sizes Offered: at least 5x7
Notes: This camera may not be a Seneca product. Although it bears a strong resemblance in design to the competitor, but has different swing hardware, and is nickeled, whereas the Competitor was always advertised as brass. Yet it has the front shift that is unique to Competitors of this era.
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