What is the purpose of this baffle?

[pgk]

I recently bought a whole plate Tailboard camera in need of some restoration, by London maker Moorse of 154 High Holborn (made a short way from R G Lewis's High Holborn shop where I worked during student days). No major problems, just a few parts need making. However inside the front section is a movable baffle with a small handle on it which moves up and down, locks into place at either top or bottom and takes up about 1/4 of the room inside the front section (photo attached). Can someone tell me what the purpose of this was? There are some nice touches on the camera - the clips holding the back in place 'click' closed for example. It also came with a lens flange fitted which I am pretty certain is from a Dallmeyer 3D Lens and again to confirm can someone measure the rear thread diameter from this lens if possible please - I think that it should be 2 3/4"?
199179

[Steven Tribe]

Need to see the front - from the front!

It might be a very special fitment for conversion to single lens stereo use.

[djdister]

How about a picture of the baffle in the other position?

[pgk]

Here are photos of the baffle in both top and bottom positions in which it locks in place, but nowhere else. It is fitted with light seals which match up with those on the camera front in either position and it certainly looks as though it was part of the original assembly and not an addition. Clearly its has some grand purpose because it was well made and wouldn't have been a simple and cheap option, but I still can't figure it.

199214199215

[Tin Can]

I think some cameras had an insert that divided the camera interior for stereo

Find the Stereo camera folk, they are legion

[pgk]

If there was any fitment in the back (which there isn't, nor any sign of one) and if the baffle was fitted vertically, stereo might make sense. As it is I can't see how it could have any stereo application.

[Doremus Scudder]

Stereo would be side-by-side views, not top-to-bottom I would think. I imagine your baffle has another purpose... baffles me, though.

[aphcl84]

My guess is that it's to recenter the lens for shooting half frame panoramic shots with either a half frame slide or a smaller plate size. I do something similar with my cameras to shoot 2 6x12 photos on a sheet of 4x5.

[Tin Can]

https://collectiblend.com/Cameras/Moorse/Single-Lens-Stereo.html

[pgk]

The recentering sounds potentially possible - I'll do some measuring.

The Stereo Moorse on Collectiblend is similar but not the same.

Perhaps a mix of the two - recenter to use taking single lens stereo images?

That said I'm starting to wonder if the purpose is actually simpler. Could it actually simply be used to supply a movable light trap for use with extreme rise and fall? The adjustment on the front has three screw holes and they allow sufficient rise to mean that the light traps at top or bottom, whilst still functional, might be compromised with a heavy lens especially if used offset for stereo images. So is it possible that this is actually an 'architectural' stereo camera with greater than normal rise and fall I wonder?

[John Olsen]

I think the owner had lens boards in two different sizes, maybe from two different formats. When he wanted to use the smaller lens board he would just raise the baffle and not have to move the lens to the other lens board. Or am I missing the point altogether?

[pgk]

I doubt this simply because I cannot see how it would work with the constraints of size and lenses. Also, other Moorse cameras seem to have a similar front with no provision for bigger/smaller lens boards. The more I look at it, the more I think it was simply for light tightness at extreme rise/fall, even if this was overkill.

[Tin Can]

Front outside does look like rise and fall movements

This first image inside shows a possibility of lateral shift


I recently bought a whole plate Tailboard camera in need of some restoration, by London maker Moorse of 154 High Holborn (made a short way from R G Lewis's High Holborn shop where I worked during student days). No major problems, just a few parts need making. However inside the front section is a movable baffle with a small handle on it which moves up and down, locks into place at either top or bottom and takes up about 1/4 of the room inside the front section (photo attached). Can someone tell me what the purpose of this was? There are some nice touches on the camera - the clips holding the back in place 'click' closed for example. It also came with a lens flange fitted which I am pretty certain is from a Dallmeyer 3D Lens and again to confirm can someone measure the rear thread diameter from this lens if possible please - I think that it should be 2 3/4"?
199179