Ensign Selfix

The Selfix was the name given to a long-running range of folding cameras made by Houghton-Butcher and its successors — part of an extensive series of Ensign cameras.

Description

The Selfix range had cameras designed for 6x4.5, 6×6 or 6×9cm exposures. At the time, photographers often distinguish between two series of Selfix models: the pre-1940 and the (then called) "modern" series.

Each of these series contains three main models for the different picture sizes, and is fitted, in the case of the pre-1940 series, with a whole range of different lenses and shutters. The basic design and manipulation is similar throughout, though the mechanical details of the modern series are, of course, much more up-to-date.

Some of the Selfixes were dual-format cameras, allowing a frame size reduction by means of an accessory mask. These masks were hinged, a clever design that prevents it being lost unlike many other camera makers from that time, and cameras with this capability had the extra red window accommodating the different sizes.

Cameras

• Ensign Selfix 20 / Ensign Selfix 20 AutoRange
• Ensign Selfix 2-20 / Ensign Selfix 2-20 AutoRange
• Ensign Selfix 3-20
• Ensign Selfix 4-20
• Ensign Selfix 8-20 / Ensign Selfix 8-20 Special / Ensign Selfix 8-20 AutoRange
• Ensign Selfix 12-20 / Ensign Selfix 12-20 Special / Ensign Selfix 12-20 AutoRange
• Ensign Selfix 16-20 / Ensign Selfix 16-20 AutoRange
• Ross Ensign Selfix Snapper

Ensign Selfix 20 (f/7.7 model) by Mario Groleau (Image rights)	Ensign Selfix 320 by John-Henry Collinson (Image rights)
Ensign Selfix 820 by John-Henry Collinson (Image rights)	Ensign Selfix 12-20 by AWCam (Image rights)

Ensign Selfix 16-20 by John-Henry Collinson (Image rights)

Links

In English:

• List of Ensign instruction manuals at Orphancameras.com

In French:

• Selfix at Sylvain Halgand's www.collection-appareils.fr