This type of camera focuses not by using a bellows to block the light as you move the lens in relation to the back, but by being made of two boxes, sliding over each other so as to make a light tight seal. A very simple camera, they normally do not have any movements. They can be small, for short focal length lens, or large for long focal length lens or macro applications. You would set the camera up for either a vertical or a horizontal shot, as the back rarely rotates, as this would increase the size of the camera even more. Closed for transport, these cameras look like the simple box that they are. Have a look at "The Big Blue Box" an 8x10 Sliding Box Camera made for a 19" focal length Process lens. This is one of the simplest designs for a sliding box camera.

This camera is good for folks starting out using the Historic Processes (also know as Alt-photo processes) since these processes require you to have a negative the size of your finished print. It is also good for those folks interested in trying Large format without the cost of a View Camera.

Before you buy a Sliding Box Camera you will need to have a lens length to have the camera matched to. And you will need to know what type of subjects you are going to be shooting. If you are going to be working mainly with objects at a distance, like landscapes, then you can have a short focus camera and save on the size of the camera, some what. If however you are going to be working mainly with objects a short distance from the camera, like portraits and still life, then you will need a long focus camera. You can also have a macro camera that will be a very long focus camera. What is meant by "short focus", "long focus", and "very long focus" is the distance that the lens is able to move away from the back.

The shortest (short focus) distance from the lens to the back is when the lens is focused on infinity, as when shooting a landscape. The closer the object to be photographed is to the camera, the further the lens needs to be to have the object in focus (long focus). When shooting macro (or extreme close ups) you will need even more (2 times the focal length or more) distance between the lens and the back to have the object in focus (very long focus).

The Royce Sliding Box Camera is available in a number of different standard formats and any focal length you want, from extreme wide angle to extremely long.