New camera project - 8x10 Seneca View

**Scott --** · 14-Aug-2010, 06:09

Well, even though it arrived weeks ago, I'm finally starting officially work on the Seneca View 8x10:

First up: Regrinding the glass.

As usual, I'm blogging the whole thing. Take a look if you're interested.

Scott

**Walter Calahan** · 14-Aug-2010, 06:46

Most excellent. I need to do the same to my Seneca.

**Steven Tribe** · 14-Aug-2010, 09:46

I can understand the bellows and the ground glass etc. But I would have thought that the wood finish and condition of the brass is very acceptible for a camera of this age. Giving a finish, that may well be better than it was when new, would make it look like a "reproduction" rather than a "restoration" in MHO!

**Scott --** · 14-Aug-2010, 09:56

Steven, there are some (albeit) slight repairs to make to this camera. There's no extension rail, which will have to be fabricated from new materials, including new brass. There's no handle or associated hardware, again to be fabricated from new brass. Crazing and tarnish, IMHO, weren't original to the finish of this camera, but that hardly matters. New cameras, including this one, had proper finishes and polished brass.

Now, there are purists who decry removing "patina", favoring the ravages of age over clean finishes. If that's your gig, then good for you. I'm not doing a museum-grade restoration of an important antique; rather, I'm rehabbing an old, neglected camera to more of a like-new condition, with finishes compatible to the original. Which is more my gig.

Thanks for your thoughts.

**cdholden** · 14-Aug-2010, 10:05

I love to see these projects where someone resurrects a dead camera (I have one of my own that keeps getting bumped down the "to do" list).
A resurrected camera gives its owner one more reason to buy film.
It also gives the owner the opportunity to introduce someone else to the merits of film photography. All good things.

**Steven Tribe** · 14-Aug-2010, 10:35

I have done "radical" restoration with mahogany and brass bodies and book plate holders with scores of brass pieces and 100´'s of screws. But in this case, the brass was green and the lacquer was more than 1/2 gone on the cuban. I am no supporter of museum type restoration and I believe that some refinishing is necessary to stop corrosion of the brass and bleaching/discoloration of the wood.

I often see "lost" extension bases on sale - you know where! You have the exact size you require so perhaps you could find something there? Modification of a near match is often more simple than starting from scratch. Getting hold of the right mahogany to make a match with the existing base will be otherwise almost impossible.

**Scott --** · 14-Aug-2010, 10:55

Originally Posted by Steven Tribe

I often see "lost" extension bases on sale - you know where! You have the exact size you require so perhaps you could find something there? Modification of a near match is often more simple than starting from scratch. Getting hold of the right mahogany to make a match with the existing base will be otherwise almost impossible.

Even more reason I don't worry about polishing the brass and renewing the lacquer! Any rail option I choose will not be original, and will not match the original finish perfectly.

That said, the woodwork involved in fabbing a new rail is insiginificant - a couple hours to plane, mill, and join the mortise and tenon joints I prefer. Brady lists the bed as cherry, and I think I agree. I have plenty of good cherry that will take a very comparable finish, some of it quartered. And of the extension rails I've seen, there's always been slop in the gear racks from decades of use. I think I'd prefer a new gear rack in order to optimize performance. Also, they're easily found on McMaster-Carr. And taper pins can be found at Ace Hardware. Truth be told, I'd only use a used rail as a hardware donor.

**Steven Tribe** · 14-Aug-2010, 12:02

You seem to have command of material, sources, processes involved and access to the right machine tools and expertise! Doing this sort of assembly for mortals like me will result in both scrap half-prepared cherry and days of frustration and compromise.

McMaster-Carr seems a very good supplier with lots of flat head, traditional slotted brass screws (they always seem to get lost or damaged!) in stock.