Rochester Optical Co. New Model Stereo View Var. 2

Rochester Optical Co., Rochester, NY

New Model Stereo View Variation 2

Rochester Optical Co. Catalog, 1895, p. 17

5 x 8

Label, Ni-plated brass, upper part of front standard: "Rochester Optical Co. - New Model Improved"

Stamp, serial number "24", lower part of the inside of the ground glass frame.

Septum, meant to fit into the notches in the rear of the camera and nailed into the stereo lens board at the front of the camera (now apart)

Label, paper, pasted on the inside of the top of the case: "E.B. Hutchinson, - Photographic Supplies, - Amateur and Tourists Outfits, - 51 Nassau Street, - Room No. 1 New York."

Date Introduced: probably 1885 ; Years Manufactured: c. 1885-1899
Construction: back focus via rack and pinion (two gear tracks on top of base rails); single or double swing; three-piece lens board; reversing by two tripod mounts
Materials: Honduras mahogany body; cherry bed; black fabric bellows; nickeled hardware
Sizes Offered: 3 ½x4 ½; 4x5; 4 ½x6 ½; 5x7; 5x8; 6 ½-8 ½; 8x10
Notes:

Despite its name (New Model Stereo) this camera is not a stereo version of the New Model, but rather a stereo version of the New Model, Improved (thank you so very much ROC), in that it has rack and pinion focusing. The illustrated camera is here called New Model Stereo Variation 2. This camera has its fabric septum (see above) which is contemporaneous if not ROC manufacture. 5 x 8 cameras were usually manufactured with wide lens board and slots in the back for a septum.

New Model Stereo Variation 1: All engravings of the New Model Stereo are as shown in the engraving above, that is, a stereo-adapted version of the New Model Improved Variation 2 (having a tongue & groove sides to its bed rather than the beveled sides of New Model Improved Variation 1). The New Model Stereo may never have been advertised in the era of the beveled-sided New Model, but a New Model of that era could be had with both mono and stereo lens boards, named New Model Variation 1 here.

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