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Excelsior View Camera
Date Introduced: June, 1889 ; Years Manufactured: c.
1889
Construction: rear focus
Materials:
Sizes Offered: 5x7 (photographs
above; as advertised below: 6.5x8.5 to 1-4; 8x10; 10x12; 11x14; 14x17; 17x20;
5x8 Stereoscopic
Notes: Apparently all
Semmendinger Cameras, no matter what design, are called The Excelsior - the
camera in the photographs above
is so stamped, as are several other designs that are extant. This camera
has straight bellows. The camera
above appears to be a studio camera design that just happens to have a folding
bed to make it (slightly) portable. The lensboard is moved up and down via
the knob at its top, but is not readily removable, being inside the front
standard. The back may have been altered to be spring-loaded for dry
plates - the original wet-plate holder would be inserted instead of the ground
glass. The most
common Semmendinger design, containing a small chamber below the lensboard and
cone bellows, is shown in the engraving above.
References:
The Photographer's Friend, Richard Walsl (Baltimore,
MD), 7th edition, 1882, p. 46 (as Extra Quality View Cameras)
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