Seneca, Little Indian

[Dany]

On my shelves, three different variations of the Seneca Vest pocket may be seen.
These strut supported front cameras were produced from circa 1916 to 1925 by Seneca Camera Co (Rochester).
For a reason I ignore they were called "Little Indian", Seneca referring to the name of an Iroquois tribe (see advertisement)
Some of the Vest pockets were fitted with hinged doors protecting the lens when camera is closed.
This is the case for my three copies.

First camera:
Vest pocket equipped with A Seneca anastigmat lens f 7.5 on Trio shutter

Second camera:
Similar to the first one but very probably imported in France without lens and equipped with a Deitar lens f5,8 produced by J. Demaria (Paris)

Third camera:
"De luxe" version showing a "Lezard" leatherette and a no-name lens

 

[Jeff15]

Some great old information, all very interesting.....

 

[webestang64]

"Lezard" leatherette......................nice.

 

[IanG]

Very nice, reminds me of Houghton's Ensignette No 1, lovely little cameras I don't have one yet

Ian

 

[Derrel]

F/7.5!!!!

 

[IanG]

F/7.5!!!!

That's fast by some standards The Zeiss Protar EWA is f18 max aperture, the Ross version of the same lens is faster f16.

Quality is also related to maximum aperture at that time the CZJ f6.3 Tessar lenses were sharper than their f4.5 versions, and later the f3.5 and f2.7. It's no coincidence the Tessar type LF Kodak Commercial Ektars were f6.3.

Ian