Seneca 6B Folding Cycle View Camera
Photo thanks to Chip Middleton
[email protected]
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This is a nice 3 1/4" x 5 1/2" folding "cycle style" view camera. The cycle style means that the back revolves. In the McKeown's guide to cameras, this camera is not listed with the other Seneca cameras but has an exact twin with only very minor changes. It is callied "The Black Beauty". The Seneca 6B is brown in color (see pic. Oh by-the-way, only the camera is for sale and not the wire frame eye glasses or the postcard photographs). The back of the camera has a ground glass, behind a latched door and a slot for sheet film. As I said before, the back will revolve so there is no need to rotate the camera. This view camera is all wood with leather covering the outside of the camera. It shows some wear and that is some of the charm that this camera has. It has a lens board so you can use different lenses. The lens that comes with the camera is a 6 3/4 in. Focus Rapid Rectinear and a Seneca Duo shutter. Also on the front of the shutter it says Wollensak Opt. co Patented May 30, 1911 August 13, 1913. The lens is clear but there is fungus in the lens and the shutter does not fire. Also a small screw is missing on a plate.The bellows are in great shape. There are four little screw holes on the bed toward the front that I don't know the reason for. The camera was made in Rochester, New York.
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 1998
From: Karl Price [email protected]
To: "'[email protected]'" [email protected]
Subject: Seneca 6b cycle camera
I love your page. When reading the description of the Seneca 6B I saw that
you had four screw holes you weren't sure of. On my black beauty they hold
the reflex viewer in place. Are they on the left side?
Hope this helps.
Smiles,
Karl