Difference between revisions of "Wenk"
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'''Gebrüder Wenk''' (Wenk Brothers) was a camera maker in Nuremberg for a few years after the Second World War. The company also made spectacles, safety goggles and sunglasses.<ref>Wenk is included with this business in a list of Nuremberg comanies that used forced labour during the War: [http://www.rijo.homepage.t-online.de/pdf/DE_NU_WK2_firmen.pdf German]- or [http://www.rijo.homepage.t-online.de/pdf/EN_NU_WK2_firms.pdf English]-language versions at [http://www.rijo.homepage.t-online.de/index.html Rijo Research]. The company address is given as Kopernikusstraße 26.</ref> | '''Gebrüder Wenk''' (Wenk Brothers) was a camera maker in Nuremberg for a few years after the Second World War. The company also made spectacles, safety goggles and sunglasses.<ref>Wenk is included with this business in a list of Nuremberg comanies that used forced labour during the War: [http://www.rijo.homepage.t-online.de/pdf/DE_NU_WK2_firmen.pdf German]- or [http://www.rijo.homepage.t-online.de/pdf/EN_NU_WK2_firms.pdf English]-language versions at [http://www.rijo.homepage.t-online.de/index.html Rijo Research]. The company address is given as Kopernikusstraße 26.</ref> | ||
| − | 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.<ref name=McK>{{McKeown12}} p995.</ref> 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.<ref name=McK/> | + | 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.<ref name=McK>{{McKeown12}} p995.</ref> Wenk filed patents describing the designs of the shutter,<ref>[https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=DE&NR=1600969U&KC=U&FT=D&ND=3&date=19500209&DB=&locale=en_EP# German Patent 1600969], ''Metallschlitzverschluss mit verdecktem Aufzug und verstellbarer Schlitzbreite'' (Metal slit shutter, self-capping and with adjustable slit width), filed 11 May 1949 and granted 9 February 1950 to Gebrüder Wenk, describing the shutter mechanism. Archived at [https://worldwide.espacenet.com/?locale=en_EP Espacenet], the patent search facility of the European Patent Office.</ref> the combined view- and rangefinder,<ref>[https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=DE&NR=1600971U&KC=U&FT=D&ND=3&date=19500209&DB=&locale=en_EP# German Patent 1600971], ''Entfernungsmesser mit Bildsucher'' (Rangefinder with viewfinder), also filed 11 May 1949 and granted 9 February 1950 to Gebrüder Wenk, and describing the combined view- and rangefinder used in the Wenka.</ref> and even the unusual picture format itself (the patent notes that, when printed on paper sizes 9x12, 13x18, 18x24 or 24x30 cm, a picture in the well-known 24x36mm format 'must' be cropped, and states that only the postcard format favours the long frame).<ref>[https://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/originalDocument?CC=DE&NR=1600970U&KC=U&FT=D&ND=3&date=19500209&DB=&locale=en_EP# German Patent 1600970], ''Bildformat für Kleinbild-Film (35mm)'' (Picture format for miniature film (35mm)), also filed 11 May 1949 and granted 9 February 1950 to Gebrüder Wenk, describing only the picture dimensions 24x30mm. </ref> 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.<ref name=McK/> |
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. | 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. | ||
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Revision as of 02:14, 21 October 2016
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Gebrüder Wenk (Wenk Brothers) was a camera maker in Nuremberg for a few years after the Second World War. The company also made spectacles, safety goggles 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] Wenk filed patents describing the designs of the shutter,[3] the combined view- and rangefinder,[4] and even the unusual picture format itself (the patent notes that, when printed on paper sizes 9x12, 13x18, 18x24 or 24x30 cm, a picture in the well-known 24x36mm format 'must' be cropped, and states that only the postcard format favours the long frame).[5] 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:[6][7] 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'.[7]
- Model II:[8] 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. The company address is given as Kopernikusstraße 26.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ German Patent 1600969, Metallschlitzverschluss mit verdecktem Aufzug und verstellbarer Schlitzbreite (Metal slit shutter, self-capping and with adjustable slit width), filed 11 May 1949 and granted 9 February 1950 to Gebrüder Wenk, describing the shutter mechanism. Archived at Espacenet, the patent search facility of the European Patent Office.
- ↑ German Patent 1600971, Entfernungsmesser mit Bildsucher (Rangefinder with viewfinder), also filed 11 May 1949 and granted 9 February 1950 to Gebrüder Wenk, and describing the combined view- and rangefinder used in the Wenka.
- ↑ German Patent 1600970, Bildformat für Kleinbild-Film (35mm) (Picture format for miniature film (35mm)), also filed 11 May 1949 and granted 9 February 1950 to Gebrüder Wenk, describing only the picture dimensions 24x30mm.
- ↑ As with some other cameras (for example the Zenit), the first Wenka cameras were not given a model number; McKeown and some auctioneers use the designations 0A and b, attributed to Ulrich Schlieffer.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Wenka 0a sold at the auction Photographica & Film, 20 March 2010 by Auction Team Breker.
- ↑ Wenka II with 50mm f/2.8 Xenar; lot 463 in the 30th Camera Auction by Westlicht Photographica Auction, 19 November 2016.
