8x10 Improved Seneca View

One of the lightest and most portable 8x10’s out there.

Street photography with an 8x10

Unlike most 8x10 cameras, this one can be used for street photography. Maybe not on every street. But it works on the streets of Tokyo.

**Setting up at Roppongi Crossing, Tokyo.** early 2000s. My assistant/model made this photo with her Yashica T4 point-and-shoot and Tri-X film. A few minutes later, and after a little repositioning, I made the photograph below:

**Roppongi subway station entrance.** 8x10 Improved Seneca View, 300mm f/8.5 Fujinon-C, FP4+, early 2000s.

Design

The Improved Seneca View is about 100 years old, and fully up-to-date because large format technology hasn’t changed. It’s a wooden flatbed and the advantage of this configuration is that ‘with the lens support retracted, the bed folds up to protect it, and the ensemble is quite compact for carrying or storage’ (Adams, 1980, pp. 31-32).

Although compact, not all flatbeds are light but this one is. Weight was trimmed by sacrificing some structural rigidity and some movement capability; that is, the ability to change the orientation of the lens plane and film plane.

The camera originally came with an extension bed that slotted into the rear, but it’s missiong. Still, there’s enough bellows extension for a 10 or 12 inch lens.

**8x10 improved Seneca View** with 10” f/6.3 Ilex Acutar lens and Majestic tripod.

**Setting up in Roppongi, Tokyo.** 2004. Below is one of the results.

**Roppongi, Tokyo.** 8x10 Improved Seneca View, 10-inch (254mm) f/6.3 Ilex Acutar, FP4+, 2004.

It works best with small, light lenses

With this camera, I use a 300mm f/8.5 Fujinon-C and a 10-inch (254mm) f/6.3 Ilex Acutar. Both are light and compact. Heavy 8x10 lenses with larger maximum apertures work better with more stoutly constructed cameras such as a Burke & James or a monorail.

**The complete outfit was made in Rochester, New York** — camera, shutter, and lens.

Maintenance / repair

The only maintenance was a bellows replacement upon purchase in the late 1990s.

Summing up

In outdoor large format photography, light weight and compactness are important. Especially in an urban environment. That’s where this camera is the right tool for the job.

References / further reading

Adams, Ansel. 1980. The Camera. Boston: Little, Brown.

Stroebel, L. 1993. View Camera Technique, 6th ed. Boston: Focal Press.

Weston, Edward (Nancy Newhall, ed.) 1990. The Daybooks of Edward Weston: Two Volumes in One. I. Mexico, II. California. New York: Aperture.

The dust jacket front cover photograph shows Weston with his 8x10 Korona View. On the back flap, it is incorrectly identified as a Seneca View. An indication of how similar the two are.