My Ermanox Journey

Godfrey said:
Haven't had much to say, but I'm liking all your photos with the Ermanox, Vince! On the Way to Hondo and Magdalena Jail House are favorites.

G
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Many thanks Godfrey - I'm back home from being away out West for 36 days. Now I'm just waiting for Ermanox #2 to be overhauled!

One thing i have concluded is that Ilford Pan F is a great film to use with the Ermanox. I had pretty much perfect negs (with no light leaks!) from the three rolls I shot out there.
 
Why have one Ermanox when you can have two!


Two Ermanoxes by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Second Ermanox #3 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Second Ermanox #1 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Second Ermanox #2 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr

I just got the one on the right back from the Ermanox Whisperer -- it was taken completely apart, every piece cleaned and lubed, new shutter curtains and straps. A three-day job. Works beautifully and I'll be shooting with it tomorrow.

Two interesting things: First, the weight. The one on the left is 1538 grams, the one on the right is 852 grams. Amazing -- my neck will definitely thank me. Second, the Albada finder. I had corresponded with foremost Ernemann expert, Peter Göllner, regarding this and this finder is original to the camera. Apparently it was intended for the UK market -- the Whisperer also confirmed that there are no other screw holes in the top of the camera other than the ones for this finder. I wonder why they did this and, was this strictly for the UK-bound cameras? I did notice that the screws on top are Philips head screws (which I'm assuming are not original to this camera, as Philips head screws didn't come out until the mid-1930s), but I'm not going to lose sleep over that.

Another thing, which the Whisperer noticed: Every part inside the camera had tooling marks, which indicated to him that these cameras were continually adjusted during the assembly process. Nothing was pre-done, completely different than the way things are made today. He was truly impressed at the way everything was done and the way the overhaul turned out. Shutter speeds are all very accurate, though he said that in the cold the B and T function sometimes hang up.

I also managed to find some more plate holders -- I now have 60 plate holders, which is great for a long day of shooting.


Ermanox Plate Holders by Vince Lupo, on Flickr



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Over on the Ermanox Facebook page (yes there is such a thing!), there was a question about the 'originality' of the Albada finder atop the latest Ermanox. I received a very detailed reply from Peter Göllner, who is pretty much the foremost expert on Ernemann. This is translated from German:

"I looked through my database again and found a total of 5 Ermanox 1.8/85 cameras that have this Zeiss Ikon viewfinder installed. All cameras are in the number block 12540xx to 12542xx. The associated optics move in the number blocks 1296xxx to 1342xxx. All in all quite late. All of these cameras with the 433/20 viewfinder were for the English market. Since, according to Willi Kerkmann, "Deutsche Cameras 1900-1945", the Ermanox 4.5x6 with the 1.8/85 is still offered in the main Zeiss Ikon catalog from 1938, I see no contradiction here. I don't have this catalogue, but since there is an illustration in Kerkmann's book, I have no doubts about this year. Zeiss Ikon continued to sell leftovers from Ernemann, probably until they were sold out. If you needed the models afterwards, they also got a Zeiss Ikon numbering. But here it is the Ernemann numbering, which indicates a relatively large number of cameras and optics produced. I assume that a certain number of cameras were equipped with this viewfinder relatively late in order to make the camera a little more attractive in the days of Leica and Contax. But that's just conjecture on my part. However, I am convinced that this is not a handicraft work by an Ermanox owner who has modified his camera, but a conscious change of the product for the English market. Whether this was done by Zeiss Ikon or an importer cannot be clarified."

The serial number of my camera is 1254217 and the lens is 1342202, which fall perfectly within the number range that Peter lists. So it's very reassuring to know that, at least according to the Ernemann expert, this Albada finder is original.
 
Vince Lupo said:
Nicephore Niepce would be proud......

What I believe to be the world's first instant image made with an Ermanox.


Ermanox Instax2 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Ermanox Instax1 by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
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Love that, especially the Niepce reference!

The screwheads look more like JIS than Philips to me - though I do have a 1950s British camera with cross-head screws holding it together, and they do appear to be original, see pic here: http://www.artdecocameras.com/cameras/coronet/dynamic-12/ - so I guess yours could be original too?
 
Muggins said:
Love that, especially the Niepce reference!

The screwheads look more like JIS than Philips to me - though I do have a 1950s British camera with cross-head screws holding it together, and they do appear to be original, see pic here: http://www.artdecocameras.com/camera...et/dynamic-12/ - so I guess yours could be original too?
Click to expand...

The camera was sent directly to Frank from the seller, and the finder came unattached to the camera for some reason, so he found those screws:

“Nothing came with the camera. I looked for 4 matching minus blade screws of the proper length and diameter but couldn't find them. These fit the best and since the finder is closed I didn't think it would matter. One of the things I learned and believe is that when restoring old cameras anything that was not original should be recognizable in case in the future it needs to be removed. That is the philosophy of the British Horological Society.

BTW those are cross point screws not Phillips screws. There is a different in the cut of the slot. A Phillips screw has slots that are tapered whole cross point screws are not and a Phillips screwdriver bit will damage the slots of the cross point screw head.”
 
Vince Lupo said:
The camera was sent directly to Frank from the seller, and the finder came unattached to the camera for some reason, so he found those screws:

“Nothing came with the camera. I looked for 4 matching minus blade screws of the proper length and diameter but couldn't find them. These fit the best and since the finder is closed I didn't think it would matter. One of the things I learned and believe is that when restoring old cameras anything that was not original should be recognizable in case in the future it needs to be removed. That is the philosophy of the British Horological Society.

BTW those are cross point screws not Phillips screws. There is a different in the cut of the slot. A Phillips screw has slots that are tapered whole cross point screws are not and a Phillips screwdriver bit will damage the slots of the cross point screw head.”
Click to expand...

Thanks for that, Vince - won't argue with that philosophy!
 
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