btw, what camera do I have?

[Janko Belaj]

http://belaj.com/unsorted/my8by10/photos/20.jpg

so, Mark is suggesting it might be a Rajah, a teak-and-brass Deardorff copy made in India. Any other thoughts?

I have made small page containing detailed snapshots: http://belaj.com/unsorted/my8by10/.

The is no particular reason why I would like to know what I have, only that ours curiosity... I think you know what I mean :)

tnx

[S. Preston Jones]

I am not 100% sure but the camera looks a lot like an older Gandofi I once owned.

Preston

[Ole Tjugen]

I can't really see any particular distinguishing features, so it could be anything. What it resembles most in my own 18x24cm plate camera - same back movement controls, but yours looks like it has a better front standard lock.

My 1910 photo book calls this "Englische Type", or "English type". Presumably that means that most cameras made in Britain at the time were of that general design - the German makers seem to have preferred tailboard cameras

[Mark Sampson]

That looks too old to be a Rajah. The one Rajah I ever saw was a 4x5, I think; it looked just like a Deardorff, and might have been a 5x7. What I do remember was that my inexperienced eye (this was 1981 or so) thought that the camera was too rickety to take seriously. I think it cost around $200; at that time a Deardorff was $1200 (and a year's wait). I bought a new Tachihara for $429 and never looked back.

[Ernest Purdum]

My guess is that it is Japanese rather than Indian. The Japanese photographers who took tourist photos near temples and the Imperial Palace were a very consevative bunch. Even in the 1970's many were still using cameras of basically English design which, although not exact copies of any specific make would have been very familiar to an English photographer of circa 1905. Many were still equipped with what the Japanese called "Thornton" type shutters in front of a barrel lens, usually made by Yamasaki.

Yours, if I am right in guessing Japanese, would be a relatively late example, made during the period when the makers were departing from some English features (1960's - 1970's). One departure is the base. Originally, these cameras were all fitted with a tuntable in the base. This took a dedicated set of tripod legs like those which once were common in the United States, although American ones fitted a tripod head instead of a turntable. It was all too easy to knock one of these out of position and bring the whole package crashing down. In Japan, the usual answer was to provide an adapter plate to fit into the turntable allowing the use of a normal modern tripod. I have also seen Japanese cameras which, like yours, omitted the turntable but provided a tripod socket in the base. Your extra socket is a good idea.

Another departure is the spring back. Originally, these cameras carried a hinged groundglass and used British style "book-form double dark slides, most commonly in the 1/2-plate size. Your groundglass protector is a nice addition which I have also seen on Japanese cameras.

The resemblance to a Deardorff is natural. The Deardorff is a fine example of a design developed from a basically English pattern. It can be considered an American cousin of the Gandolfi.

The condition appears excellent. The camera has a long extension and a "wide-angle movement" (the ability to move the back forward). It is very light weight for its capabilities. I think you are to be congratulated on having acquired a useful tool with which to go out and take photographs of your very beautiful country.