Who Uses The Oldest Camera?

[W K Longcor]

HAVING JUST JOINED THIS GROUP A FEW WEEKS BACK, I NOTICE A LOT OF CHAT ABOUT WHAT LENS OR CAMERAS ARE USED. ( THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHERS - WE LOVE TO TALK "EQUIPMENT") I HAVE ENJOYED THE "SHOW OFF YOUR CAMERA" SECTION -- BUT NOW I'M WONDERING -- WHO OUT THERE IS USING THE OLDEST VIEW CAMERA ON A REGULAR BASIS? (NOT - "I TOOK ONE PHOTO - ONE TIME - ON A 150 YEAR OLD CAMERA -- I'M TALKING A REGULAR USE CAMERA.):rolleyes:

[Daniel_Buck]

For future reference, reading posts that are written entirely in upper case letters is difficult, and is equated to 'yelling' online. :)

I'll start off the bidding, my 4x5 is about 1 year old, my 8x10 is about 6 years old I think. Do I hear 7 anyone, 7 years old? :D

[phaedrus]

Calumet C-1 magnesium of their first series. Front-focussing and NOT rebuild to do so. The bed folds out to the front. Must be from the early sixties, older than yours truly,
Christoph

[Jon Wilson]

My deardorff V8 was made in 1959 and my New Empire State 11x14 is circa 1910.

[jasonjoo]

I am currently waiting for my Chamonix to come... which should be sometime mid-August.

So I'm still pre-natal :)

[Greg Lockrey]

I have a Speed Graphic made in 1948 that gets used a lot. :)

[Jan Pedersen]

Ok, my Kodak 2-D (5x7) dates to around 1940 but i'm sure that's a "new" camera compared to what will be coming from other members.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I think my American Optical 11x14" is 1890s, but I'm sure the wetplate guys have some older cameras.

My oldest lens is a Voigtländer Petzval s/n 14220. If anyone has a date for that, I'd be curious.

[BarryS]

Ok, I'm folding--all I got is a 1930's (maybe) 8x10 Eastman 2D and a postwar Deardorff. I'll just sit here and wait for the 19th century guys to throw down. I'd like to hear about who's using the oldest lens as well.

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Ok, I use my Seneca Improved 8x10 on a regular basis. It is circa 1904. I love it!

Jim

[David Karp]

I use my Whole Plate Improved Seneca as my main camera lately. Although they were made between 1904-1925, I don't think it is as old as Jim's, because it is all black. The black finish came later.

[Miguel Curbelo]

12x15 Sands Hunter, 1890s, with a Richard Ritter-built 11x14 back.

[Ole Tjugen]

Unknown maker German 24x30cm plate camera, with Steinheil Gruppen-Antiplanet ca. 1860. :)

[Shen45]

This is mine --

http://www.fiberq.com/cam/roc/empimp.htm

or it could be this :)

http://www.fiberq.com/cam/roc/empvar2.htm

Mine is badged as an Empire State No2 which I have converted from 5x7 to 5x4.

About 1902 [ish]

[Gene McCluney]

I use (for 5x7) a half-plate Toyo metal field camera that I have adapted an old Korona 5x7 wooden ground glass back. Works great.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

My Wisner from 2001 is so beat up that it looks like it's been around at least 100 years. Whenever the on-lookers inevitably ask "how old is that camera?" I reply "turn of the century." They think I mean the 20th century, not the 21st...

[Ole Tjugen]

"Turn of the century" is a good date for two of my Gandolfis too: The 8x10" is 1993, the 4x5"/Quarter-plate one is 1913...

[Ash]

The 8x10 downstairs is from the mid-late 1800's, the korona is from 1900-20, and everything else is new in comparison

[Daniel_Buck]

Whenever the on-lookers inevitably ask "how old is that camera?" I reply "turn of the century." They think I mean the 20th century, not the 21st...

HAH! that's great, I think I'll have to use that next time someone asks me about mine :D

[Mike Castles]

Hmmm, 1902 Eastman No.1 5x7, 1900-ish Korona 8x10, ROC Empire 1890's 8x10 and a Eastman No.2 7x11 194-1920.

New camera (for now) is B&J 5x7 from the 1960's.

Soon to replace most of these with a Ritter 7x1/8x10 circa 2008 :)

[W K Longcor]

Sorry about starting this all off with the ALL CAPS -- I really wasn't trying to shout. With my own equipment ( and being retired from the "professional " side - they do not get used on a regular base these days) I have an grey Ansco View 8x10 and a Kodak Master 8x10 ( w/ 4x5 and 5x7 reducing backs) both of these are most likely from the 1950s -- same for a Kodak master 4x5. These all paired up with the more modern Sinar Equipment. The OLD camera that I used all the time was a Fulmer and Shwing 11x14 copy camera. I particularly found the film holder of interest. One 11x14 holder had inserts to allow the use of ALL film sizes from 4x5 up to 11x14 ( biggest I ever used was 8x10). I also had an Eastman auto focus enlarger (8x10 size - monster!!) which I gave away to a school of photography when I quit the studio.:)

[Bill_1856]

Great thread!
All my LF camera stuff is post-WW2 (except the 9x12 Maximar and Bergheil, which I don't actually use except to fondle). I have some German NAZI-era lenses which I do use, but my eldest real user is a beloved 1932 Leica II (not exactly LF).

[Ole Tjugen]

You really ought to use the Bergheil, wilhelm. I've got two nice little ones (a 9x12cm and a 6,5x9cm one), both with Heliar lenses (150mm and 120mm respectively). And they're really great little cameras!

[Robbie Shymanski]

Isn't it bad enough that 99.5% of the population already thinks that just because I am shooting LF I am using the oldest camera in the world?

[Don Dudenbostel]

My oldest camera is my 11x14 Seneca but it needs a new bellows at the moment. My oldest regularly used camera is a very early transition model 8x10 Deardorff. I don't know the age exactly but Jack Deardorff told me it is one of five cameras in a transition when the bed construction and dimensions changed. Anyone have info on transition models of Deardorff cameras?

[Bill_1856]

You really ought to use the Bergheil, wilhelm. I've got two nice little ones (a 9x12cm and a 6,5x9cm one), both with Heliar lenses (150mm and 120mm respectively). And they're really great little cameras!

Ole, I LOVE these old 9x12s, but the ground glass of both are so dark that I really can't see to compose. Their GG is exceedingly thin, and there's no room to replace it with a Maxwell, etc, screen. Really great design and engineering, though.
My very first camera (1950) was a beautiful little rosewood Gaumont 9x12 which had been "liberated" in WW2 and robbed of its 135mm Tessar. I found a new, coated 150mm Steinheil Unifokal for it (have never seen another one, anywhere), and used it for several years before trading for a disasterous Nicca (Leica III clone).
I still have some of the 9x12 Isopan negatives and prints, and can't believe how SOFT most of them are by today's standards.

[cyrus]

My Voigtlander Bergheil folding camera was made from 1911 to 1930. Flutots just CLA'd it.
I am trying to learn to coat my own dryplates so I can't say that I use it regularly.

[seawolf66]

What do you consider as old, anything and everything beyond 1900 ?

[Ole Tjugen]

My Voigtlander Bergheil folding camera was made from 1911 to 1930. Flutots just CLA'd it.
I am trying to learn to coat my own dryplates so I can't say that I use it regularly.

Mine are both 1934 models, with rimset Compur shutters in the neat little bayonet fitting. :)

I use sheet film in them most of the time, but I have a few packs of plates for "special occasions".

[Jan Pedersen]

Oldest lens would be a 11.1" TTH Rapid Rectilinear from around 1898 very sharp in the center. Cover 8x10 at closer distances.

[W K Longcor]

Isn't it bad enough that 99.5% of the population already thinks that just because I am shooting LF I am using the oldest camera in the world?

Robbie - don't worry about what other folks think! I think it is a great compliment to the makers of the older cameras that they are still so very "usable" 50 or 100+ years later! Also, old to one person isn't so old to another. Someone resently told me he had a very, very old camera. It was made in the 1980's -- before he was born! To me, my Kodak Master is still "newish". The folks who think you have a very old camera - because it is LF -- probably also think you are a very skilled and highly artistic person to be able to use such a camera.;)

[Bruce Schultz]

I shoot with a Century 7a, circa 1904, and a Kodak 2D, circa 1940???, but my primary lens is a CC Harrison made in 1862 or 1863.

[Scott Davis]

Century Master studio camera ca. 1910, Gundlach Wizard 11x14 ca 1910. I have as a restoration project an 1880s (perhaps older) E&HT Anthony studio camera. Lens-wise, I have a Jamin Darlot 14" petzval type lens that dates from 1852 give or take. Second oldest lens is a Darlot Extra Rapide Rectilinear, which is an 1860s vintage.

[seawolf66]

Well then my R.O.C Pony Premo # 6 would be my oldist: at this time:

[Brook Martin]

I shoot an Anthony Normandie 11x14, the earlier version, that dates to the early 1880's. Richard Ritter did do a conversion on the back.

[Jim Noel]

My Seneca, not improved, is dated 1899. The RR lens and shutter, also original, date from the same period and work perfectly. I keep thinking of converting it to wet plate, but itis too pretty to ruin with drippings from silver nitrate.

[Drew Bedo]

There are some museum quality antiques in use by members of this forum; great stuff out there. This thread got me thinking and then looking and digging.
The name-plate on my 8x10 2-D says:

Kodak View Camera
No. 2-D
Mfg in USA for
Eastman Kodak Co. By
Graflex Inc

McKeown’s Cameras briefly outlines the many reorganizations of Folmer & Schwing (the original company) and gives an approximate date of 1945-ish… so its about sixty years old. I have a 4x5 “bicycle camera” that is 1905 or so, but it is a family heirloom and not functional (looks great on the shelf!) My 4x5 is an early Zone VI made for them by Wista. It is from the early eighties.

[Mark Sawyer]

My oldest users are a Century 7a Studio 8x10 and a Seneca 8x10 improved, both from very early in the 20th century. It seems both are still fairly common and out there still earning their keep.

Hey, all you guys buying new cameras from Canham, Phillips, Chamonix, etc... Take care of them. Someone else will probably still be using them in 2108...

[Gordon Moat]

I have a Holmes, Booth, and Haydens lens dating from circa 1855, though it is adapted to a Linhof board to mount onto a modern 4x5. The Shen Hao I mostly use dates from just a few years ago, even if some people might think it is really old when they see it.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat Photography (http://www.gordonmoat.com)

[Pat Kearns]

My oldest is a 5x7 R.O.C. Premo Pony #3 from 1908.

[wfwhitaker]

I've had a George Hare 10x12 camera similar to the New Patent Field Camera with the back converted to take S&S holders. It's probably from the 1880's. Well, it was mine; I just sold it...

[Jim Galli]

I have a lovely Scovill Studio camera from around 1880. It has an ivory San Francisco Suppliers tag. Kirk Geary & Co. iirc. It's not my daily user but I did haul it and it's Century #1 stand out for an engagement (http://tonopahpictures.0catch.com/Night_in_the_OLD_West/A_Night_in_the_OLD_West.html) last month and did portraits with a correct era 1880 Voigtlaender Portrait Euryscop Serie II. It came to me with a sliding 8X8 wet plate back which I will put back into service, but for now it has a later 8X10 back. My daily user is a 1940's Kodak 2D 8X10. A wonderfully versatile tool.

[LFstudent]

♥does it really matter?

[jnantz]

1896 sears delmar box camera
early 1900s century 8a ( 11x14 )
and a few lenses from the 1870s

[W K Longcor]

♥does it really matter?

Sure It Matters!!! We are all Photographers!!!:eek:

[Jim Galli]

♥does it really matter?

Of course not, but why did you ask?

[E. von Hoegh]

Isn't it bad enough that 99.5% of the population already thinks that just because I am shooting LF I am using the oldest camera in the world?


Don't feel bad. I had my Nikon F pointed out as an "old" camera recently.:confused:

8x10 Deardorff; 1951. Lenses from 1905 to 1986.
4x5 Linhof ST IV, 3 lens outfit, 1959.

The oldest camera I ever had was a 1910-ish 5x7 that literally disintegrated on me; a garage sale item when I was 12 or so. But the lens survived, and I still use it, 35 years later!.

[j.e.simmons]

My 8x10 camera is almost brand new, being an Arkay C-1 made in 1980, but my lens is a RR made no later than 1907.
juan

[Rodney Polden]

My Century Universal 8x10 is from 1930-31, but still amazes me with its versatility, light weight and triple extension (it handles lenses from 120 - 600 mm just great). A brilliant piece of wooden engineering design. I shoot 6x9, 4x5, 5x7, 4x10 and 8x10 with it.

[Tim Deming]

late 1800's E. H. Anthony studio camera (8x10) is nearly up and running, although I mostly use an 8x10 Deardorff from 1980.

Oldest lens is a Voigtlander petzval (1st version, s/n: 4500's IIRC) from about 1854, as well as a few other Darlot and Voigtlander Petzvals and Rapid Rects from the 1860's to 1880's

Tim

[lenser]

My oldest camera would likely be either my Improved Empire State from the late 1800's or just after the turn, or my Seneca Full Plate or my 5x7 Camera City View from about that same time. Then again, there's the 4x5 box plate camera that I'm trying to identify and which might predate them all. But the earliest item I still use is a huge Dallmeyer 3A that is engraved with a patent date of June 11, 1867 (foreground in the avatar).

Are there any Dallmeyer experts out there? I've got some questions about this giant and can't seen to track down any good info sources.

Tim

[Jim Galli]

My oldest camera would likely be either my Improved Empire State from the late 1800's or just after the turn, or my Seneca Full Plate or my 5x7 Camera City View from about that same time. Then again, there's the 4x5 box plate camera that I'm trying to identify and which might predate them all. But the earliest item I still use is a huge Dallmeyer 3A that is engraved with a patent date of June 11, 1867 (foreground in the avatar).

Are there any Dallmeyer experts out there? I've got some questions about this giant and can't seen to track down any good info sources.

Tim

The 3A was in continuous production for a very long time with many different iterations from early all brass with waterhouse stops to late black painted aluminum mount with sophisticated dial aperture and barrel quick adjust of the diffusion. It may outreach the Dagor since it started so much earlier. I have 3 different A versions in my set of 1A 2A 3A and 4A lenses. My 2A that I just got from Eddie is the oldest version with waterhouse stops. You dial in the diffusion from the back of the lens. simply unscrew the element and watch the notches. Can't imagine a sitter putting up with all that monkey motion.

[goamules]

My oldest is a 8x10 Century Grand Studio No. 2 from about 1904. I also use a 1940 Kodak 2D 5x7 (converted to half-plate) a lot. I use lenses that are somewhat older, several petzvals and rectilinears from the 1880s.

On Dallmeyers, there is a guy named Sean on the civil war collodion reenactors forum who has all the factory ledgers. http://www.cwreenactors.com/phorum/ He can give dates of mfg, and lots of good info on them.

Garrett
wet plate photography (http://www.flickr.com/photos/garrettsphotos/collections/72157604665870909/)

[Darcy Cote]

I have two very old Japanese full and half plate cameras that have been converted to 4x5 and 5x7 backs. I don't know how old they are off hand but they speak to me. The words that come from them. "use me,use me" Sorry that is.... the equivalent Japanese words.