Patent Etui

Patent Etui with Carl Zeiss Jena – Tessar (4.5/105mm) Accessories: rollfilm adapter, extinction meter, tripod, film sheet or plate holders. image by Siim Vahur (Image rights)

The Patent Etui are extra-slim folding plate cameras, they were manufactured in two sizes 9×12cm and 6.5×9cm by KW Kamera Werkstätten Guthe & Thorsch of Dresden between 1920 and 1938. Although originally designed for glass plates both sizes also accept Rada or Rollex 120 6×9 roll film backs as well as film packs.

The 9×12 Patent Etui weighs 815g, and was considerably smaller than most of its German competitors. In comparison a 4×5in Crown Graphic weighs 2.4kg.

The 9×12 cameras were often fitted with an f/4.5 135mm Zeiss Tessar initially in a dial-set Compur, and after 1931 in the new rim-set Compur. They were also available with an f/4.5 150mm Tessar.

Patent Etui Luxus, 6.5×9cm, Tessar 10.5cm f/4.5, dial-set Compur. Pictures by eBayer Yalluflex. (Image rights)

The 6.5×9 cameras were usually fitted with an f/4.5 105mm Zeiss Tessar, again in a dial-set Compur, and later in the new rim-set Compur. They were also available with an f/4.5 120mm Tessar. Two budget triplet lenses the f/4.5 & f/6.3 105mm Meyer Gorlitz Anastigmatic Trioplan were also available, the f/4.5 in a Compur shutter and the f/6.3 in a 3 speed Vario shutter.

Patent Etui Luxus, 6.5×9cm, rim-set Compur. Pictures by eBayer Yalluflex. (Image rights)

A few Patent Etui's were also sold with lenses from a variety of other manufacturers, and there were also some variations of the two basic models, including one with no focus rack adjustment instead having a Schneider Radionar with front cell focussing, and an Ibsor shutter. Not all cameras were fitted with the sports finder.

Patent Etui 9×12. Among the Patent Etui's attractions was its extreme compactness when folded. Images by Ian Grant. (Image rights)

Patent Etui 9×12 (left) alongside an Orionwerks 9×12 camera. image by Ian Grant (Image rights)

1935 Advert in the British Journal (Photographic) Almanac image by Ian Grant (Image rights)

A Japanese copy of the 6.5×9 model, called the Prince Peerless, was made from 1934.

Japanese advertisements

Advertisement by Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten in Ars Camera November 1924, showing the Patent Etui (パテント・ヱツヰ・カメラ) and the Thowe plate folder (ソウヱカメラ). (Image rights)	Leaflet by Photo News, November 1938. (Image rights)

Bibliography

• Ars Camera. Advertisement by Yamashita Yūjirō Shōten in November 1924. No page number.
• Photo News Sha. Leaflet presenting the Rolleicord, Perle, Semi Olympus II and Patent Etui, dated November 1938. Document reproduced in this Flickr set by Rebollo_fr.