Damen-Kamera
The Damen-Kamera is an unusual and elegant folding camera made by Certo in Dresden in about 1906.[1] Certo had started as a small camera workshop, but had expanded in new premises; this camera was one of the first to be made with the Certo name.[1] Sources disagree as to the size of plates it uses: a listing at Westlicht gives it as 6×9 cm;[2] one at Christie's gives 6.5×9 cm;[3] and McKeown gives it as quarter-plate (3¼×4¼ inch or 83×108 mm).[4]
The camera body folds up in the form of a small handbag, in the shape of a lyre, and covered with alligator leather. When unfolded, it has a pale green leather bellows and bright nickel-plated metalwork.
The lens is not identified on the examples shown on the Web. It appears to be perhaps an f/8 (the aperture scale markings are between 8 and 128, suggesting that these are not f-stops but another aperture system).[2]
The camera has front rise and shift. It has a brilliant finder; presumably it would also be supplied with a ground glass focusing screen. There are two tripod bushes, on the base and side.
McKeown states that the same camera was sold by Lancaster in England as the Ladies' Gem Camera, and by Hesekiel in Berlin as the Pompadour.[4]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Michael Sorms, [ http://www.dresdner-kameras.de/firmengeschichte/firmen/body_firmen.html#Certo Certo history] at Dresdner-Kameras.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Damen-Kamera sold at auction in May 2005 by [Westlicht Photographica Auction in Vienna. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "W" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Damen-Kamera, without the lens and shutter, sold at auction in March 2003 by Christie's in London.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 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). p195.
Links
- Damen-Kamera (in a selection of objects - the camera is at the bottom of the page), at Technische Sammlungen Dresden. The lens and shutter on this example are missing; a lens without shutter has been put in their place.
