Seneca Box Camera

[the-new-old-school]

My father came across an interesting camera in an antique mall near my home and I haven't been able to find all that much info about it. It is a Seneca Kao Sr. 4x5, or 5x4 as the brits put it, box camera. I know it was made somewhere between 1908 and 1916 from what info I could find. The tag on it says circa ~1910. I am considering getting it for mainly a show piece, but it is very light so I may try and actually shoot it. The overall condition is pretty great considering it is ~100 years old. I guess my main concern is that I don't want to overpay for it. Since these seem to be fairly scarce it makes pricing them kind of hard. I did come across a closed auction on ebay that had it priced for about half of what the seller is asking for, but the ebay one was in worse shape. Just thought I would get some opinions from you fine people here.

Pics of the Seneca (pleas forgive the quality since all I had on me at the time was my mobile)

[jnanian]

hi

i have the sears version of the same camera.
mine's from around 1896 or so ... when i bought
it from the big auction site ( 10years ago? ) it cost
about 25-30$. this size box camera isn't too scarce,
but just the same you don't see them every day either ...
i love mine and takes modern film holders.
i wish i had the 8x10 version with a focus-hood/chimney.
if you haven't seen boxcameras.com
( its gone now, but mr peabody and sherman's way-back machine can help you )
there is some info on the camera there ...

have fun !

john

[pgomena]

You can expect an antique store to charge more for "antique value" of a camera. They're a retail business dealing in collectible decorator items, so you pay a premium. If it's in good shape, try haggling a little. They might come down 10%.

Peter Gomena

[the-new-old-school]

Thanks for the link John. Also glad to know that it will take modern film holders.

Peter I know that the antique malls/stores will have a bit of a mark up on them. I'm pretty sure this particular store is a consignment type shop that just rents the spaces out to people with stuff to sell. I may still get this.

Does anyone know the speed of the shutter on these things? It sounds like it is right around the 1/30th mark maybe a touch slower. Also any guess as to the aperture size? I'm guessing f8 or f11.

[jnanian]

the shutter is somewhere between 30+50th S
and aperture is around what you said, at least its around that on mine ...

there is a bulb setting ( B + I ) and a tripod mount ...
and there are just a pair of springs that hold the film holders in there,
so if you have a 545/545i polaroid holder and some polaroid film
you can have fun

enjoy your new camera !
john