108 years old and still clicking.

[Grandpa Ron]

Some months back I asked for information on and old camera. That opened a can of worms that lead me down two path and several weeks of web searching. One path was the Century Camera Co. the other was Seneca Camera Co. Both were early 1900 vintage.

The camera had a release lever on the side indicative of a Century but it also had the rail lock squeeze buttons and lens uprights of the Seneca. One of the lessons I learned was many cameras were produced from common camera parts sources in Rochester and not all the option showed up in the advertising engravings. For reasons to long to explain I have decided this is most likely a Seneca No 7 or a Seneca Black Beauty. Both of 1910 vintage give or take a few years.

After years of bringing old fiddles, mandolins, muzzle loaders, canoes, skis and a host of other items back to life, my philosophy is to clean and repair but leave restoration to the experts. So too this old camera.

Cleaning and a coat of polish, a bit of screw tightening and Wollensak lens from an old Polaroid with some old Speed Graphic film holders and I was ready to try my hand at 4x5 photography.

Attached are some before and after camera photos and a couple of picture it took to check for light leaks or other problems.

Next on the agenda is the repair of an early vintage Wollensak lens. It may take a while.

 

[Derrel]

Good job on getting the old Polaroid lens fitted to the very vintage Seneca camera! Awesome! The photos you shot seem fitting for old gear!

 

[gryffinwings]

Amazing you got that old girl shooting again, looks great, and looks like the work put in gave you good results.

 

[n614cd]

That is neat. Well done.

Sent from my SM-J737T using Tapatalk

 

[star camera company]

I’d check that your ground glass surface and film are in registration. You should be getting much crisper images.