My Ermanox Journey

Hard to believe this was done with an Ermanox, looks much more like a Leica picture. Great shot, btw.

Erik.

eMuseumPlus
 
Excited to see what you can do with it Vincent -I just picked up a book just yesterday from my library's sales room: "Erich Salomon: Portrait of an Age" for the low price of 3 dollars.

I'd love to try shooting an Ermanox sometime - just a fantastic camera.

It's interesting to me that a lot of the photos Mr. Salomon took are of the politicians trying to reform Europe after WWI. Maybe it's just me but the opulence around them seems very out of touch with people who were struggling during those times. It makes me wish that things could have turned out differently. I'll just leave it at that.
 
drmatthes said:
Yes, that's exactly what I thought, too. One can find 12 pages of Dr. Salomon's legacy here: https://sammlung-online.berlinische...dule=artist&objectId=7969&viewType=detailView, and those able and/or willing to read German, here https://www.achgut.com/artikel/erich_salomon_ein_grosser_fotoreporter is a short summary of his life, achievements, and death.

Pity and shame, that there is no actual book in print by him; just 2nd hand items. - Very witty man, too, and, together with Eisenstaedt, one of the pioneers of political photo journalism.

Let alone the fact that, two days ago, I lost an online auction for an Ermanox by ten bucks... Enjoy this gem of a historical camera!
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I've been on the lookout for a good deal on his book, Berühmte Zeitgenossen in Unbewachten Augenblicken (Famous Contemporaries in Unguarded Moments), published in 1931. There are a number of them available, the cheapest of which is about $150.
 
Godfrey said:
Wonderful, compelling story, Vince!

Such a cool camera and a delight that you have one that's working! I look forward to seeing Ermanox photos from you, whether 127 roll film or glass plate ... 🙂

And you remind me that I loaded my Mamiya Press 23 Super film holders a couple of months ago now with Ilford direct positive paper but have not yet made any exposures... Really have to get on that! LOL!

G
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Vince, we need you to pose in a tux holding the camera, like the well-known photo of Salomon!
 
https://ibb.co/HhtWzVh - Postcard by Lotte Jacobi to friends from November 29, 1973, reading:

Dear Isi, thank you by heart for letter and telegraph. Hope thou ? and Sauer will come to Luxemburg. Whether I will bring the Ermanox along, I don't know yet, it is dreadfully heavy! - You may already know that the press release is scheduled December 12th, [and] no other [dates]. Can you obtain stand-in on Wednesday? However, [tomorrow, effaced] today - it is after [abbreviated] half past 1 - I'll drive off here, and soon I will be with you, love, yours, Lotte - (Jacobi seems to be in between the respectful thou (Sie) and the casual you (Du) in German towards Isi.) Obviously, the lens is heavy. Therefore, in the operating instructions, Zeiss Ikon requests the user not to place the camera on its back...!
 
Vince Lupo said:
I've been on the lookout for a good deal on his book, Berühmte Zeitgenossen in Unbewachten Augenblicken (Famous Contemporaries in Unguarded Moments), published in 1931. There are a number of them available, the cheapest of which is about $150.
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Online for Kindle reader here: https://www.amazon.de/Berühmte-Zeit...te+zeitgenossen+salomon&qid=1623185002&sr=8-2

Otherwise, pls drop me a PM - from 12 Euros upwards here in Germany! - Not the original, anyway, just reprints.
 
mconnealy said:
Such a compact and innovative design. You have to wonder why it was not widely copied. I guess the closest competitor would have been the compact folding plate cameras like the Patent Etui. Perhaps the Ermanox was just a lot more expensive to produce with that big lens.
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There was the Ihagee Night Reflex, here http://www.ihagee.org/IPD/IPD49-ReflexkamHorden30.pdf on page 5, with the Hugo Meyer 1:1.5 or 1:2 Plasmat lens for the same format as the Ermanox.
 
Vince Lupo said:
There was also a Thornton-Pickard Ruby Speed Camera, which pretty much looked exactly like the Ermanox.
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Interesting! Had to look it up, featured a fast Taylor-Hobson Cooke f/2 Anastigmat.

By the way, I love this https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/peter-hunter-and-erich-salomon-london photo of Salomon and his son Otto (= Peter Hunter), both deliberately yawning on their hotel bed in London, 1935. - More interesting photos by Salomon on the ICP page, as well.
 
Rob-F said:
When I read Ermanox and Eisenstaedt, the very first thing that came to mind was that he used an Ermanox for his picture of the skating waiter!
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That shot was actually done with a Miroflex in 1932: "I did one smashing picture", Eisenstaedt wrote, "of the skating headwaiter. To be sure the picture was sharp, I put a chair on the ice and asked the waiter to skate by it. I had a Miroflex camera and focused on the chair."

It's possible, however, that his photos of Marlene Dietrich he took in 1929 (she's in a tuxedo) may have been taken with the Ermanox. Not sure.
 
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