Wenk
Gebrüder Wenk (Wenk Brothers) was a camera maker in Nuremberg for a few years after the Second World War. Previously the company made spectacles and sunglasses.[1]
The company made three (or perhaps four - see below) models of the Wenka, a coupled-rangefinder camera for up to forty-five 24x30-mm exposures on a roll of 35mm film. The camera has a metal-bladed shutter behind the lens, with speeds 1/25-1/800 second (1/500 in model II), plus 'B', which is synchronised for flash.[2] There is a cold shoe near the left end of the top plate, and a synchronisation socket on the front of the body (to the right of the lens). The standard lens is a 50mm f/2.8 Xenar, stopping down to f/16 and focusing to 0.7m, with a 40mm threaded mount. A 100mm f/4.5 Westar was also made with this mount for the camera, but is rare.[2]
All models have a slim winding lever placed for the right thumb. The shutter release button is very close by the hub of this (surely inconveniently so). Beside this is a knurled wheel which sets the shutter speed.
- Model 0a:[3][4] The first model of the Wenka is distinguishable by having two large rectangular RF windows. It also has the frame size '24x30' engraved on the top plate.
- Model 0b: Scarcely a different camera; McKeown notes that on this model, the RF windows have bezels (absent before), and the cold shoe is screwed on (previously riveted). The camera is not engraved with '24x30'.
- Model I: The left RF window is small and round on this model (and the model II, below); on the previous models there is a mask behind the left window to give the small RF 'spot'.[4]
- Model II:[5] This model has a press-button by the lens to select X-synchronisation, and the top shutter speed is only 1/500 second.
Notes
- ↑ Wenk is included with this business in a list of Nuremberg comanies that used forced labour during the War: German- or English-language versions at Rijo Research
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). p995.
- ↑ As with some other cameras (for example the Zenit), the first Wenk cameras were not given a model number; McKeown and some auctioneers use the designations 0A and b, attributed to Ulrich Schlieffer.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Wenka 0a sold at the auction Photographica & Film, 20 March 2010 by Auction Team Breker.
- ↑ Wenk II with 50mm f/2.8 Xenar; lot 463 in the 30th Camera Auction by Westlicht Photographica Auction, 19 November 2016.
