Rochester Optical Company Carlton camera

[AndyL]

My wife gave me a ROC Carlton Camera with stand case, shutter lens, and 5 Plates. She found it in an estate sale. The lens is a Volute Bausch and Lomb version 1 looks to have a shutter, and it also has a Zeiss Anastigmat Series V 1891, this lens and board don't have any obvious shutter, just an aperture control lever .Camera is beautiful!! Any information would be great!! Is it still possible to use this camera?, Is there any preloaded boards to be had? Who develops anymore? Thanks
Andy
email info would be greatly appreciated.
andyl3@me.com

[goamules]

Hi, this was the top of the line Rochester camera, and you'll notice the beautiful mahogany and brass. It also was in the British style, with more movements and requiring a special tripod (hard to find) that fits on that brass bracket on the bottom.

This is a good site to explore: http://piercevaubel.com/cam/roc.htm It has catalogs http://piercevaubel.com/cam/roc/carlton.htm that show you the Carlton.

Yes, you can use these cameras, if you have the right plate holder, and the metal film inserts to adapt the plate holder for film. The Rochesters of this era sometimes need a special holder without the catch groove, so using a more modern alternate holder sometimes won't work. I have a similar Rochester Universal that I shoot, using the proper old holders. They are beautiful, light, and fun to use. If yours is like most, it's a wholeplate size with a 6 1/2 X 8 1/2 ground glass. That is the most difficult size to find film and holders. Larger or smaller is better.

[Tracy Storer]

They made the Carlton in many different sizes, most (if not all) I have seen do not adhere to modern film holder sizes, but it sounds like you have some film / plate holders?
"Volute" was a B&L shutter which had one set of blades which served as both shutter and aperture blades. The lens nomenclature may be on the edge of the front lens cell mount. What size is your camera, and what focal length is your Zeiss Series V?

[goamules]

The Calton was made in 4x5; 4¼x6½; 5x7; 5x8; 6½x8½; 8x10; 10x12; 11x14. For some reason, all I ever see are wholeplate, and the occasional 8x10.

[Two23]

The Volute shutter dates to around 1908--1915. I have one on my Century Camera No.46 (folding 4x5.) I think they're the prettiest shutter ever made. They were an advancement over the older B&L "double pumpers" of the time.


Kent in SD

[AndyL]

here she is, thanks so much for the help, the size looks to be 61/ by 8 1/2. I have 5 of these cassettes.

[AndyL]

[AndyL]

Where would I start to get sheet film for this? Is there a manual? Is there casuists that are preloaded that I can send out for printing? really appreciate the help.

[goamules]

Ah ha! I had a hunch it would be wholeplate! It's a good size, but finding film is sometimes hard. Once a year you can buy Ilford in a special run. The film shops like Freestyle may have some now.

You will have to learn to load film sheets into the holders, you'll never find a a film pack for this format, if they ever made one. You can develop yourself pretty easily. Just read this forum. If Rochester made a manual in 1890, it would be full of colorful period language and chemistry no longer available.

[goamules]

Here is mine, a Universal, and a wholeplate photo I took. I used a Cooke Anastigmat lens in Volute shutter, not the Cooke Rapid View Portrait (RVP) soft focus lens shown.