Reisekamera
Reisekamera (=travel camera), or Continental View, type of folding wooden plate cameras, comprising a baseplate with a hinged front panel and a sliding rear plateholder, common from the 1880s until the middle of the 20th century. Generally there are a number of limited movements like vertical and horizontal displacement of the lens on the front panel and tilting of the plateholder at the rear. The focusing is accomplished by sliding the plateholder on the baseplate, usually assisted by a rack and pinion mechanism while observing the image on the focusing screen. Front and rear are connected by a square bellows slightly tapering to the front. Usually the baseplate is extendible for close-up work and to accomodate various focal length lenses. Some cameras have a built-in shutter, often one for pneumatic release.
These cameras came in a limited variety of sizes indicated by the size of the plate for which they were made, typically 18x24cm and 13x18cm. These plate cameras, having focusing screen at the film plane, require a sturdy tripod since they do not lend themselves easily for handheld photography like hand cameras. The name "travel camera" indicates the use for which they were intended, being collapsible, it was designed for assignments outside the studio, but not made for travelling tourists. Smaller variants, like those for 9x12cm plates, became popular among photography students at the turn of the century.
A lot of these cameras originated from the region around Dresden in Germany where a rich camera industry was established since the 1860s, especially the city of Görlitz was renowned for their professional cameras. Several unnamed fine workshops made these view cameras to be supplied with brass lenses to wholesale companies who sometimes put their badge on the cameras, but more often than not, these cameras remain nameless. Since the mid-1920s other cameras types became common for amateur and professional use, but the old travel cameras stayed in use especially for purposes like making school class photos.
Contents
makers of the Reisekamera
- Eugen Loeber (Dresden)
- Ihagee (Dresden)
- Emil Wünsche (Dresden)
- see also Emil Wünsche Reise-Cameras
- see also Emil Wünsche Schüler-Apparat (student's camera)
- Ernemann (Dresden
- camera types Globus and Berry
- Richard Wittmann (Dresden)
- Goerz (Berlin)
- Sachs & Co. (Berlin)
- Bentzin (Görlitz)
- Neue Görlitzer Kamerawerke (Görlitz)
- Falz & Werner (Leipzig)
- Annacker (Köln)
- Voigtländer (Braunschweig)
- E. Suter (Basel)
- Georg Faltus (Vienna)
- Rudolf Lechner (Vienna)
makers of similar cameras, named "travel camera", "chambre de voyage" or else
- J. Lancaster & Son (Birmingham)
- Stereoscopic Co. Ltd. (London)
- Derogy (Paris)
- FKD (Kharkov)
Several makers made a different type of Reisekamera or travel camera, with a fixed rear and a smaller sliding front standard that allows shift AND often also tilt movements.
makers of the fixed rear design
- Voigtländer (Braunschweig)
- Josef Vojta (Prague)
- Alfred Werner (Vienna)
makers of more sophisticated field cameras sold as "travel camera", "Reisekamera" or "chambre de voyage"
Links
- Josef Vojta, alternate "Reisekamera" design, at Design und Photo [1]
- Deutsche Reisekamera at Kurt Tauber's [2]
- chambre de voyage, common tailboard architecture, explanation of Continental View type, on Antique Wood Cameras [3]
- chambre de voyage at Sylvain Halgand's [4]
- Reisekamera, unknown maker, at Horst Reimer's [5]
- Wittman Reisekamera, folded, at Fotomuseum [6]
