Looking for information about an old wooden LF Cam

[MikeN]

Just looking at the general camera design, construction, and materials, (teak wood?), I'd guess it's a Rajah, made in India.

Hi Mark, thanks for mentioning the Indian brand. I just browsed a few ones but they are rather lower quality than fine carpentry like this one here. The material, as far as I can asses by comparing wood structures, is mahogany; also not seen on the Indian ones.

[Tin Can]

ANBA by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr

[MikeN]

Doing some research and with the help of other boards I found a couple of indicators that point to an Austrian maker: R. A. Goldmann Fabrik Photographischer Apparate
It's not bullet proof but with a certain evidence

I'll start then refurbishing this beauty

For anyone interested: The project can be tracked here: https://github.com/grainycolors/unknowncam

[Joseph Kashi]

The hardware and general layout appear to be quite similar to an unbranded more-or-less 5x7 wooden camera that I have. When I sought identification information here and elsewhere online, the general consensus was that it was a generic Japanese model, possibly Tanakaishi ( spelling?), built with then-widely available generic field camera hardware. It was probably made shortly after WWII.

One oddity - the recessed area for the ground glass carrier is actually too high to perfectly fit modern 5x7 film holders but the depth to film exactly meets ISO depth dimensions and so modern holders register correctly and have good focus. The extra width of the recess in the back where the film holders rest doesn't seem to result in fogging IF the film holder is centered and the recess in the back is painted a matte black.

My surmise is that this was originally either a book-form back or a half-plate camera that was retrofitted with a modern factory-made 5x7 ground glass carrier, but that's only a surmise based upon the ground glass carrier dimensions meeting modern ISO standards.

[Tin Can]

Last comment

Perhaps

I bought my set as pictured, I added a lens

Ready for wet plate

dry plates and film

bought on this forum last year for a song

or was it a dance