My Ermanox Journey

The Autex looks good!

I have one of the mechanical self timers somewhere ... I think it's in the box with some of my Minox 8x11 gear. Have to find it... it would be handy! :)

fun fun fun ... another desperate 'thing' search! LOL!

G
 
Godfrey said:
The Autex looks good!

I have one of the mechanical self timers somewhere ... I think it's in the box with some of my Minox 8x11 gear. Have to find it... it would be handy! :)

fun fun fun ... another desperate 'thing' search! LOL!

G
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I have at least four different little self-timers (a couple of Kodaks, a generic one that I've had for almost 40 years etc), but this one was such a good deal I couldn't pass it up.

Besides I can't very well trip the shutter of an Ermanox using a Kodak self-timer now can I?
 
I just got the Ermanox back from the Camera Wiz after having a few minor things tweaked. Unfortunately the Graflex back was unable to be adapted to the camera, so I'll have to just suffer with glass plates and 127 film for now. Additionally, there's still a bit of light leaking around the left and right edges of the shutter curtains, so I'll just have to either keep the lens cap on or the darkslide in the 127 back when I'm not actively shooting.

I found this little gem on eBay this past week -- who knew that photography was a DIGNIFIED hobby??? I'll definitely have to adjust my behaviour.


Ernemann Brochure by Vince Lupo, on Flickr


Ernemann Brochure by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
 
Great! I look forward to seeing more photos! :D

That brochure is a nice find! Yes, a "dignified hobby" ...! A little different from the late '40s to early '60s image of the photographer as being a cigar chomping, aggressive sidekick to the reporter, eh? ;)

G
 
Erik van Straten said:
Hard to believe this was done with an Ermanox, looks much more like a Leica picture. Great shot, btw.

Erik.

eMuseumPlus
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I'm wondering if this was developed by inspection vs he got the exposure dead on.

B2 (;->
 
BillBingham2 said:
I'm wondering if this was developed by inspection vs he got the exposure dead on.

B2 (;->
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I gotta tell you, I tried shooting glass plates indoors at a small dinner party over the weekend and nothing came out (best I got was the chandelier over the dining table and nothing else). I was shooting at about 1 second wide open with the ASA 25 'speed' plates, so honestly I have no clue how he got what he got. It looks like there's a bright light off to the left, so maybe he either had some kind of bright lights set up or it was an incredibly bright room, but I had no luck at all in a moderately lit house. Maybe for those situations I ditch the glass plates and shoot with the super-fast ISO 100 speed 127 film!
 
I think your results with the 25 speed plates isn't unexpected (at least it's in line with my experience with simple emulsions shot indoors). Even JL's speed plates still represent a pre 1900s level of emulsions making. To compound the issue most of the light from incandescent bulbs tends to be on the red end of the spectrum (led seems a bit variable model to model).

It looks like panchromatic emulsions came about in the early 1900s. With all the changes in how film speed is calculated I'm having a hard time coming up with a good idea of what speeds were available during Salomon's time but I think you'd still be period authentic using an ISO 100 panchromatic film.
 
Back at it again after another visit to the Camera Wiz. I had a plate break inside the camera and as a result the shutter curtain straps moved. No damage at all, but Frank had to reposition the straps. And we've concluded that there isn't any way to eliminate the light leaking around the left and right edges of the shutter curtains, so I'll either have to keep the lens cap on or the darkslide inserted until I'm ready to take a picture, then replace the cap/darkslide immediately thereafter (this is when shooting 127 film). For the glass plates it's not as much of an issue.

Here is a not-great attempt at an indoor available light shot. This is about a 1 second exposure at f/2 using the J. Lane 'speed' plates (exposed at ISO 12). Not enough exposure, so we're going to try it again this week.


Riley on a Sunday Evening by Vince Lupo, on Flickr
 
Y'know, some people would spend a week in Photoshop to get that effect. I think it's great, like a B&W Bladerunner.
 
Looks good, Vince! "Riley Noir" as it were... ;)
Lovely tones. The bokeh/blur in the near-ground and background on the left is interesting but a hair distracting: it draws my eye there, away from the main subject. I'd tone it down a little so that my eye falls more naturally to the center-right.

G
 
Godfrey said:
Looks good, Vince! "Riley Noir" as it were... ;)
Lovely tones. The bokeh/blur in the near-ground and background on the left is interesting but a hair distracting: it draws my eye there, away from the main subject. I'd tone it down a little so that my eye falls more naturally to the center-right.

G
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Thanks for the feedback - what I could try to do is reduce the contrast on the left and darken it down, or maybe just darken the highlights down. Unfortunately I can't really stop down the lens to reduce the out of focus effect in a low light situation like that, as then I'd be into a 10 second exposure or more (It's about 3 seconds in those last two shots at f/2, exposing the 'speed' plate at ISO 12). And I have no firm idea how the background is going to look in the final result until I see the developed plate - it's a bit hard to tell how crazy it might get at the time I'm taking the shot. Personally it doesn't bother me and my eye goes right to my loving wife first (yes I'm slightly biased!), but I could see how that area on the left could be a distraction.

As an aside, I'd be really curious to know what the fastest glass plates were back in the 1920's. If ASA/ISO 25 was about it, I have a hard time understanding how Erich Salomon managed to get some of the photos he did, particularly without setting up any additional lights. Handheld would have been a real challenge, even with the f/2 (and later f/1.8) lens. Maybe with ASA/ISO 100 it might have been possible, at least as far as I can see it. Of course like everything else in life I could be wrong about this!
 
Erik van Straten said:
Vince, beautiful portraits! Technically the third is the best. The lens renders wonderful.

Erik.
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Many thanks Erik - yes I agree the third one is the best. A 3 second exposure!

I just finished gathering the glass plates and making the prints of the ones I'm sending to Dresden Technical Museum (that photo being one of them). Hopefully the good folks there won't say "Uh yeah, thanks for the Ermanox images Vince. We're going to place them in the special round filing cabinet for safekeeping".
 
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