Merit Box
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| Merit Box 4x6.5, with brilliant finders image by Inspiredphotos (Image rights) |
The Merit Box is a bakelite-bodied box camera for 4x6.5-cm pictures on 127 film, made from about 1933 by Merten Brothers of Gummersbach, North Rhein-Westphalia in Germany. It was made in brown marbled bakelite, as pictured here, and also in red and black, according to McKeown[1] It has a lens identified as by Rodenstock, with f/11 or (by sliding the metal tab at the top) two other aperture settings (presumably f/16 and f/22).[2]. It has a B&I shutter, with a simple attachment for a cable release by the shutter lever. There are viewfinders for portrait and landscape views; note that in the example pictured at right, these are brilliant finders, but other examples have Watson finders, with small ground-glass screens instead of viewing lenses, as seen in the picture below. There are also threaded tripod sockets moulded into the bakelite in the base and the left side; these must need great care to use without breaking the bakelite.
The camera comes apart in two parts for loading, the front third with the lens, shutter, and finders, detaching. The design of the catch varies between examples.
The Merten company, founded in 1906,[3] made electrical components, and presumably used bakelite mouldings for insulators and/or housings in those. The Merit Box, also made in a less common size for 6x9-cm pictures on 120 film, is the only camera the company is known to have made. Merten is now part of Schneider Electric, and makes various electrical systems for home security, building systems automation etc.
Notes
- ↑ 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). p666.
- ↑ Listing of the camera in the Science Museum collection in Bradford
- ↑ History of Merten at Schneider Electric
Links
- Botanical Garden with a Vintage Camera, a short album taken with a 6x9-cm Merit Box, in Ruben Scricciolo's Flickr stream. The lens is not at all bad. The album includes a picture of the camera, in black bakelite. The shutter controls are arranged slightly differently on the 6x9 camera.
