Century Studio Camera Photos

8x10 Century Studio Camera, ca. 1900-1903
~ 280mm Platyscope "C" F9 lens (pending verification)

Frontal view

Name Plaque

Platyscope "C" missing Waterhouse Stops

Platyscope "C" through shot showing some delamination around front element. Rear element is sound.

Bellows extended

Rear view showing 5x7 back with sliding carriage for multiple exposures on one plate. Movement is sideways only. Camera movements are rear tilt and swing.

Detail of register for multiple frames on one plate

Inside view from rear with 5x7 back removed. Notice inside top and bottom there are clips for image masks.

A second shot of the rear with the carriage removed shows two more mask clips inside.

Focus and movement knobs.
From left to right, Focus adjustment (leftmost and rightmost), Focus locking knob, Tilt knob and Swing.
I cleaned and polished the swing mechanism. Hidden underneath the curved gear on the camera body was two pieces of paper with the printed #'s 27525 and 27527 mated together. I put them back the way they were.

Focus Lock and gear rail detail

Swing and Focus Adjustment knobs. Note the paper under the top right of the gear rail as mentioned above.

The story behind the camera:
I found this in Wonewoc, Wisconsin while on a trip west to the Dakotas. We stopped for lunch in this small town and put our noses in a small antique store. Just inside the door was this camera on a tripod and needless to say it left with me. Lunch was good.

I spoke to the dealer a few days after we returned and he told me he acquired the camera and two others in Rockford IL in 1974. A friend of his had just purchased an old building from a widow to store his car collection in. The building had been an old photo studio and was chock full of stuff and needed cleaning out so the dealer was asked to help. His friend told him he was planning to burn the wooden cameras for heat in a woodstove. One was about six feet long and the other was about three feet long. The dealer took the three cameras as "payment" for his days work. Good thing. The other two he sold to some outfit in Chicago for $800 and kept this Century and used it off and on over the last 30 years.

I am currently looking for an 8x10 back as well as the studio stand for this camera. If you know of one please contact me via email. Thanks! Ed

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