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Ermanox
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| image by Mario Groleau (Image rights) |
| Catalogue numbers of various models POA: Price on Application | |||
| Ernemann 1924 |
Zeiss Ikon 1927 |
Zeiss Ikon 1930 | |
| 4.5x6cm, f/2 | 254 | 479, X | n/a |
| 4.5x6cm f/1.8 | n/a | 479, Y | 858 |
| 4.5x6cm Reflex f/2.7 | n/a | 3489, N | n/a |
| 4.5x6cm Reflex f/1.8 | n/a | 3489, Y | 862 |
| 6.5x9cm | n/a | 480 | 858/3 |
| 9x12cm | n/a | 481 | n/a |
| 10x15cm | n/a | No code, POA | n/a |
| 13x18cm | n/a | No code, POA | n/a |
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 use in low light. The camera is really only a special model of the Miniature Klapp, made to serve new fast lenses. By offering it as a distinct model, Ernemann must have hoped to make a sensation of it; it certainly was one. The 4.5x6cm model of the camera has a rigid body (it is the body of the Miniature-Klapp, but with a rigid lens-tube substituted for its bellows); the larger models are strut-folding (like the larger Klapp) though a rigid-bodied 6.5x9cm camera was available briefly. The camera also has the same focal-plane shutter as a Miniature Klapp, with speeds 1/20 - 1/1000 second, plus 'B' and 'T' (slowest speed 1/15 second in the 9x12cm camera); and all models have the Klapp's folding Newton viewfinder as shown here. A ground-glass focusing screen can also be used, and one was supplied with the camera.
The Ermanox was introduced by Ernemann from 1924, as a camera for 4.5x6cm plates, and the camera was continued after Ernemann's merger into Zeiss Ikon. It was also seen later in 6.5x9cm and 9x12cm sizes[1] (see the 1926 advertisement below right, and examples cited), though the small model is the most commonly seen. In 1925, the French distributor Omnium Photo still only advertised the 4.5x6cm camera, but offered three sizes by 1926.[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 form, with a 14cm f/2 lens on the larger one.[2] By 1926, only the 4.5x6cm camera had the rigid body; larger cameras were strut-folding,[2] and apparently wooden-bodied.[3] 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 1931 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. When introduced, the camera was supplied with a 10cm f/2 Ernostar; later an 8.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar was offered (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]. 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] 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.
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| image by SBA73 (Image rights) |
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.
| Night cameras |
| Bopp | Dallmeyer Speed | Ermanox | Ermanox Reflex | Ihagee Nachtreflex | Japanese night camera | Lunar (Meyer Speed Camera) | Matonox | Mentor Wonder Reflex | Night Exakta | Ruby Speed Camera | Sommer Night Camera |
Ermanox Reflex
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| Ermanox Reflex (in the Technische Sammlungen Dresden) image by Danipuntocom (Image rights) |
There is also an SLR model, the Ermanox Reflex, introduced in 1926, which has a focusing screen on the top, with a folding leather hood, and a rear screen. As the Ermanox is a special version of the Miniatur Klapp, the Reflex camera is a version of the Miniatur-Ernoflex, with a rigid body section where that camera has struts and bellows (The struts of the Miniatur-Ernoflex serve only to give compact folding; the bellows-extension is not varied for focusing; the camera uses helical focusing like the Ermanox).
The Ermanox Reflex has a 10.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar: the 1927 Zeiss Ikon catalogue also offers the camera with either this lens or a 9cm f/2.7 Ernostar. The camera appears in French distributors' catalogues from 1926,[4] only offered with the f/1.8 lens. Later cameras have lenses made by Carl Zeiss (marked as such on the name-ring, though the lens is still named Ernostar), with a focusing knob on the left side of the barrel instead of a ring. They may also be branded for Zeiss Ikon with a disc on the body, and without Ernemann's logo moulded into the control knobs.
Copies or equivalents
Both the viewfinder and reflex cameras were copied by other makers, but while surviving examples of the Ermanox cameras are rare enough, all the copies are vanishingly so. Viewfinder copies include the Lorenz Nacht Kamera with an f/2 Plasmat, the Thornton Pickard Ruby Speed Camera with an f/2 Cooke Anastigmat, and a 'night camera' by Sommer with an f/1.5 Plasmat. Reflex copies include the Mentor Wonder Reflex (or Night Reflex) for 6.5x9cm plates, with an f/1.9 Rietzschel/Agfa Prolinear, and the Ihagee Nachtreflex, with an f/1.5 Plasmat.
Prices
The Ermanox and Ermanox Reflex were expensive. In the advertisement shown here, quite early in the life of the Ermanox, $195 (U.S.) for the 4.5x6cm camera would be about $3300 at 2024 value; $550 for the 9x12cm model would be about $9400. The 1930 British catalogue offers only the 4.5x6cm models of the Ermanox at £66 and Ermanox Reflex at £60,[1] equivalent to about £4250 and £3750 at 2024 value.
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| Advertisement by Central Camera Co., 1926. scanned by Mario Groleau (Image rights) |
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| images by Mario Groleau (Image rights) | |
Known examples, at Westlicht auctions, etc.
4.x6cm viewfinder Ermanox
| Body Serial no. if known |
Lens Serial no. (link to source) |
Focal length & f-no. |
Comments | Westlicht/Leitz Auction no. |
| 1139240 | 148233 | 10cm f/2 | Speed table in French | 37 |
| 1184710 | 149950 | 10cm f/2 | Breker, March 2019 | n/a |
| 1184920 | 150266 | 10cm f/2 | 31 | |
| 1235814 | 150287 | 10cm f/2 | In the stock of dealer Coeln Cameras | n/a |
| 1184987 | 150289 | 10cm f/2 | 7 | |
| 150297 | 10cm f/2 | 42 | ||
| 1185107 | 150431 | 10 cm f/2 | Breker, March 2018 | n/a |
| 1185098 | 150503 | 10cm f/2 | First camera seen with more precise focus scale | 16 |
| 1185290 | 150548 | 10cm f/2 | 12 | |
| 1039149 | 150618 | 10cm f/2 | 32 | |
| 1185381 | 150666 | 10cm f/2 | 11 | |
| 1185427 | 150802 | 10cm f/2 | 20 | |
| 1235777 | 150967 | 10cm f/2 | 18 | |
| 1185547 | 151067 | 10cm f/2 | 8 | |
| 1236043 | 166016 | 10cm f/2 | Breker, May 2024 | n/a |
| 1038999 | 166029 | 10cm f/2 | w/ Rollex rollfilm back (for 127) | 19 |
| 1236053 | 1660xx | 10cm f/2 | Breker, March 2016 | n/a |
| 1253577 | 167170 | 8.5cm f/1.8 | With its box | 16 |
| 167204 | 8.5cm f/1.8 | Breker, March 2024 | n/a | |
| 1254025 | 167265 | 8.5cm f/1.8 | Focus in feet. At Early Photography | n/a |
| 1253880 | 167428 | 8.5cm f/1.8 | Focus in feet. Round Zeiss Ikon badge by viewfinder. Flint Auctions, 2020. With sales receipt dated April 1934. |
n/a |
| 1253836 | 167552 | 8.5cm f/1.8 | Impressed 'Ernemann', but with Zeiss Ikon badge. | 8 |
| 1253718 | 167569 | 8.5cm f/1.8 | Speed table in English, focusing in feet; Zeiss Ikon badge | 28 |
| 1254444 | 167639 | 8.5cm f/1.8 | 18 | |
| 1254305 | 1296355 | 8.5cm f/1.8 | English speed table, focus in feet; Breker, May 2024 | n/a |
| 1254214 | 1342114 | 8.5cm f/1.8 | The camera pictured here | n/a |
| 1109182 | 8.5cm f/1.8 | English speed table, focus in feet; Zeiss Ikon badge. Lens serial seems wrong; can't be read in auction photos |
34 |
4.5x6cm Ermanox Reflex
| Body Serial no. if known |
Lens Serial no. (link to source) |
Focal length & f-no. |
Comments | Westlicht/Leitz Auction no. |
| 1297263 | 179626 | 10.5cm f/1.8 | 18 | |
| 179638 | 10.5cm f/1.8 | Technische Sammlung Dresden (as pictured above) | n/a | |
| 1297429 | 179691 | 10.5cm f/1.8 | Breker, March 2024 | n/a |
| 1297308 | 179705 | 10.5cm f/1.8 | 13 | |
| 1297439 | 179763 | 10.5cm f/1.8 | At Chiswick Auctions, March 2024 | n/a |
| 1297315 | 205312 | 10.5cm f/1.8 | Speed table in English | 17 |
| M.99906 | 224877 | 10.5cm f/1.8 | With 15cm f/2.7 Ernostar in same lot, at Christie's, 2002. Likely lens has been exchanged by user (see position of focus knob). |
n/a |
| M.99925 | 917001 | 10.5cm f/1.8 | First Ernostar lens made by Carl Zeiss Jena for Ernemann | 27 |
| M.00064 | 917021 | 10.5cm f/1.8 | CZJ Ernostar | 6 |
| M.99913 | 917066 | 10.5cm f/1.8 | CZJ Ernostar; Breker, November 2021 | n/a |
| M.99928 | 917072 | 10.5cm f/1.8 | CZJ Ernostar | 28 |
| 917099 | 10.5cm f/1.8 | CZJ Ernostar | 20 |
6.5x9cm Ermanox
| Body Serial no. if known |
Lens Serial no. (link to source) |
Focal length & f-no. |
Comments | Westlicht/Leitz Auction no. |
| 1168015 | 165363 | 14cm f/2 | Rigid body | 21 |
| 1168023 | 192063 | 12.5cm f/1.8 | 13 | |
| 1322310 | 192098 | 12.5cm f/1.8 | 6 | |
| L 6922 | 225024 | 12.5cm f/1.8 | Chiswick Auctions, Oct 2023. | |
| L 6910 | 225058 | 12.5cm f/1.8 | LP Foto Auction 16 |
9x12cm strut-folding Ermanox
| Body Serial no. if known |
Lens Serial no. (link to source) |
Focal length & f-no. |
Comments | Westlicht/Leitz Auction no. |
| 1051818 | 166982 | 16.5cm f/1.8 | 34 | |
| 1053977 | 166993 | 16.5cm f/1.8 | Tropical, and with speed table in French | 24 |
| 1051646 | 167048 | 16.5cm f/1.8 | At the George Eastman Museum. | n/a |
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 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 Catalogue pages for the Ermanox reproduced at Collection Appareils: Omnium Photo's in 1925, 1926 and 1927, and Photo-Porst's in 1925.
- ↑ Jahrbuch für Photographie, Kinematographie und Reproduktionsverfahren, Prof. Josef Maria Eder, Eduard Kuchinka & Curt Emmermann, 1931. Verlag Wilhelm Knapp, Halle (publisher) p.41 ( Reports of new cameras for 1928-9 describes the 9x12cm Ermanox as new, a sturdy wooden box in which the giant lens is recessed, and describes a lead-weighted stand offered for its use in a theatre. The camera is described as being used with a rangefinder, and provided with a small electric lamp to illuminate the rangefinder and focus scales in the dark of the theatre.
- ↑ Catalogue pages showing the Ermanox Reflex: various French distributors including Omnium Photo, 1926 and '27,at Collection Appareils.
Links
- 24cm f/1.8 Ernostar serial no. 15970, possibly the lens from a 13x18cm Ermanox, sold at the 31st Westlicht Auction.
- Directions for Use of the Ermanox 4.5x6 in English and French (pdf, just four pages in each language) at Internet Archive.
- Dr. Erich Salomon, a photographer using the Ermanox, at German Wikipedia. Article in German.
- Lichtstärke Ermanox-Aufnahmen 1928 bis 1932, Erich Salomon, published by Franz Greno, 1988. ISBN 3891908717. Listed as Public Domain at the Internet Archive. Mostly interior photographs of public meetings, dinners, etc. - quite commonplace photographs by modern standards.
- Roll-film back for 4.5x6cm Ermanox badged for 'Salomon, Erfurt', with shoe-mounting brilliant finder, and with unused roll of film, in a tropical container; at the seventh Westlicht Auction.