User:Dustin McAmera/Workspace
This is a work in progress, or just me thinking about what I might put forward for consideration. None of it is working or official; just my own ideas. Please don't edit this page.
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For addition to the FAQ
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The Ermanox is the definitive 'night camera', a compact camera for small plates or film-packs, with a focal-plane shutter and a very fast lens, allowing photography in low light. It was introduced as a 4.5x6cm camera with a rigid body. It was also seen later in 6.5x9cm and 9x12cm sizes. These larger models are strut-folding (though a rigid-bodied 6.5x9cm camera was available briefly).
The camera has a focal-plane shutter, with speeds 1/20 - 1/1000 second, plus 'B' and 'T' (slowest speed 1/15 second in the 9x12cm camera). All models have the folding Newton viewfinder as shown here. A ground-glass focusing screen can also be used, and one was supplied with the camera.
Occurence of the various sizes
The Ermanox was introduced by Ernemann in Dresden from 1924, as a camera for 4.5x6cm plates, and the camera was continued after Ernemann's merger into Zeiss Ikon.[1] In 1925, the French distributor Omnium Photo still only advertised the 4.5x6cm camera.[2] The German distributor Photo-Porst's catalogue for 1925 already shows the 6.5x9cm camera as well as the 4.5x6cm, both with the same rigid body, with a 14cm f/2 lens on the larger one.[2] Omnium Photo's catalogue for 1926 offers three sizes: only the 4.x6cm camera now had the rigid body; the 6.x9cm and 9x12cm cameras were strut-folding.[2] Zeiss Ikon's 1927 catalogue even offers the camera in 10x15cm and 13x18cm sizes (as a special order, 'price on request');[1] no example of either size has been seen, though a 24cm f/1.8 Ernostar suitable for the 13x18cm camera was sold at Westlicht (see the links below). The 1930 catalogue only offers the 4.5x6cm and 6.5x9cm cameras.[1] Some (not much) advertising for the camera also used the name Er-Nox, as in the text of the 1926 advertisement below right.
Occurence of the various sizes
- 1924: The Ermanox was introduced by Ernemann in Dresden from 1924, as a camera for 4.5x6cm plates.[1]
- 1925: In 1925 the French distributor Omnium Photo still only advertised the 4.5x6cm camera.[2] The German distributor Photo-Porst's catalogue for 1925 already shows the 6.5x9cm camera as well as the 4.5x6cm, both with the same rigid body, with a 14cm f/2 lens on the larger one.[2]
- 1926: The camera was continued for some years after Ernemann's merger into Zeiss Ikon. Omnium Photo's catalogue for 1926 offers three sizes: only the 4.5x6cm camera now had the rigid body; the 6.5x9cm and 9x12cm cameras were strut-folding.[2]
- 1927: Zeiss Ikon's 1927 catalogue even offers the camera in 10x15cm and 13x18cm sizes (as a special order, 'price on request');[1] no example of either size has been seen, though a 24cm f/1.8 Ernostar suitable for the 13x18cm camera was sold at Westlicht (see the links below).
- 1930: The 1930 Zeiss Ikon catalogue only offers the 4.5x6cm and 6.5x9cm cameras.[1]
- add date: the camera no longer appears in the catologue.
Lenses
When introduced, the 4.5x6cm camera was supplied with a 10cm f/2 Ernostar; and for the short time it was available, the rigid-bodied 6.5x9cm camera was supplied with a 14cm f/2 lens. Later an 8.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar was offered for the 4.5x6cm camera, and 12.5cm and 16.5cm f/1.8 for the two larger cameras. The 1927 Zeiss Ikon catalogue offers both the f/2 and f/1.8 lenses,[1] but the French Photo-Plait catalogue of 1926 already offers only the f/1.8 lens.[2]. This may reflect the state of the economy of Germany; these were years of a global depression, but Germany was particularly badly affected. Actual examples seen suggest that customers chose the fast lens once it was available. The 1930 Zeiss Ikon catalogue only offers the f/1.8 lens.[1] Rigid-bodied cameras with the short, fast lens have a significantly shorter lens tube, and are lighter: the camera body is mostly aluminium (covered with black leather), but the lens-mount is brass and makes up a lot of the weight.
The unusually large aperture made available light photography a real possibility. It was this feature that made the camera famous, especially in the hands of Dr. Erich Salomon (1886-1944), who used it to make candids. The maker's instructions stress the care needed when focusing at such wide aperture, and discourage the use of film-packs, which may not lie as flat as plates.
In the earliest example cited below (with lens serial no. 148233), the focus scale is marked on the painted lens tube, with the index mark on the plated focusing ring. In all other examples the scale is on the ring, and the pointer on the tube. In all examples there is a single indent in the ring and a toothed spring on the bottom of the tube which mates with it when the lens is at infinity focus, giving a 'click-stop'. Later lenses (from serial number 150503 in the examples cited here) have a more precise focus scale than previously, with more marked distances (and the closest distances marked to two places of decimals in some cases).
A strut-folding 9x12cm Ermanox made in tropical materials (uncovered mahogany with brass fittings and tan leather bellows) has been seen at Westlicht; the notes suggest this camera may be unique (i.e. made in tropical finish to a special order: other non-tropical 9x12cm examples exist). It has a 16.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar in black finish.
Some (not much) advertising for the camera also used the name Er-Nox, as in the text of the 1926 advertisement below right.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Catalogues, reproduced at Pacific Rim Camera:
* 1924 Ernemann catalogue, with the 10cm f/2 Ernostar on p12 and the 4.5x6cm Ermanox on p45.
* 1927 Zeiss Ikon catalogue (260-MB pdf, German, but with Czech prices), with the Ermanox and Ermanox Reflex on p37.
* 1930 Zeiss Ikon catalogue (253-MB pdf, English), with the Ermanox and Ermanox Reflex on pp47-48. The entry seems to damn the Ernostar with faint praise: The ERNOSTAR F 1.8 is an anastigmat of the highest class and the definition is so good that enlargements up to 5½"x3½" can be made with the greatest ease. - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Catalogue pages for the Ermanox reproduced at Collection Appareils: Omnium Photo's in 1925, 1926 and 1927, and Photo-Porst's in 1925.
