A. Semmendinger (see http://semmendinger-camera.com/)
Excelsior View Camera, Variation 2
Richard Walsl Catalog, 1882, p. 45
probably originally 6½ x 8½; modified to 5 x 7
Date Introduced: - ; Years Manufactured: c.
1880
Construction: rear focus
Materials:
Sizes Offered: 4¼x5½;
6½x8½; 8x10; 10x12; 11x14; 14x17; 17x20;
20x24
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 one is
referred to here as Excelsior Variation 2. 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. Indeed, the reference in the Walzl
catalog is of a portrait camera, having no mention of a folding bed.
However, the lensboard arrangement - in which it is moved up and down via
the knob at its top, and is not readily removable, being inside the front
standard - is the same for the reference portrait camera and the above one. The back may have been altered to be spring-loaded for
5x7 dry
plates - the original wet-plate holder (probably 6.5x8.5) would be inserted instead of the ground
glass. The most
common Semmendinger design, containing a small chamber below the lensboard and
cone bellows, is referred to here as Excelsior Variation 1.
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