Excelsior Wet Plate Camera

He was one of the first major manufacturers of wet plate cameras, a type of photography that was discovered eight years prior in 1851 by Frederick Scott Archer and Gustave Le Gray.

29,523,[3] which expanded on the first aiding "in attaching the camera to a movable frame... for the purpose of facilitating the copying of large pictures by photographing.

"[4] After several years of camera production in New York City, the Semmendinger & Sons business moved across the river to Fort Lee, NJ.

August Semmendinger died in 1885 leaving the business to his younger sons who continued the manufacturing of Excelsior wet plate cameras for some time.

In addition to the common single lens variety, Semmendinger produced stereo cameras with combinations of either two or four lenses.

This camera also had a compartment on the front under the lenses where the brass screws used for focusing, securing, and moving the lens board would have been kept.