Reversible Back Premo

The Reversible Back Premo was offered from 1897 to c.1903. It was designed along the lines of the Premo family of cameras and made for advanced photographers who needed a long bellows draw for copying, enlarging, and other purposes. The highly polished wood interior, brass trim, and maroon bellows makes this one of the most beautiful American folding plate cameras.

This model camera was also used by the famous American western photographer Edward Curtis. A picture of Curtis' whole-plate Reversible Back Premo can be seen on a webpage maintained by the Smithsonian Institution Library. The Curtis website is also worth a visit at: www.sil.si.edu/Exhibitions/Curtis

The version shown here is an early 1897-98 model made by the Rochester Optical Company. The camera continued to be offered by the Rochester Camera & Optical Company from 1899 until it was acquired by George Eastman and merged with Kodak in 1903. R.O.& C. Co. versions have a redesigned lens board mount and improved front and rear focusing with course and fine adjustments.

Extra bellows draw is obtained by means of a folding back which drops and forms a bed for the rear portion of the camera. The rear standard has an adjustable tilt (large brass hardware) for distortion control.