Ermanox

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image by Mario Groleau (Image rights)

The Ermanox is a camera for 4.5x6cm plates made by Ernemann in Dresden from 1924, and also advertised for 6.5x9cm and 9x12cm (see the advertisement below right, and examples cited), though the small model is the most commonly seen. The earliest advertising for the camera also used the name Er-Nox, as in the text of the 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 for the two larger cameras): these cameras have a significantly shorter lens tube, and are lighter. The 4.5x6cm model of the camera has a rigid metal body (covered with black leather); the larger model is a strut-folding camera. Both of these have the folding Newton viewfinder as shown here. A ground-glass focusing screen can also be used, and one was supplied with the camera. 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).

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. Later lenses (all after serial number 150618) have a more precise focus scale than previously: more marked distances, and the closest distances marked to two places of decimals.

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.

There is also an SLR model, the Ermanox Reflex, which has a focusing screen on the top, with a folding leather hood, and a rear screen. This has a 10.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar. Some of these lenses were made by Carl Zeiss (marked as such on the name-ring), with a focusing knob on the left side of the barrel; some have a focus ring and are by Ernemann.

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 the f/2 Plasmat, and the Thornton Pickard Ruby Speed Camera with an f/2 Cooke Anastigmat. Reflex copies include the Mentor Wonder Reflex for 6.5x9cm plates, with an f/1.9 Rietzschel/Agfa Prolinear, and the Ihagee Nachtreflex, with an f/1.5 Plasmat.



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images by Mario Groleau (Image rights)

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images by Mario Groleau (Image rights)

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Ermanox ad by Central Camera Co. scanned by Mario Groleau  (Image rights)
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images by Mario Groleau (Image rights)


Links

  • 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.
  • 4.5x6cm viewfinder examples sold at Leitz- and Westlicht Photographica Auctions:
    • Ermanox (exposure table in French) with 10cm f/2 Ernostar, serial no. 148233, with the scale marked on the tube, sold at the 37th Auction;
    • Ermanox with 10cm f/2 Ernostar, serial no. 150266, sold at the 31st Auction;
    • Ermanox body serial no. 1184987, with 10cm f/2 Ernostar, serial no. 150289, sold at the seventh Auction;
    • Ermanox with 10cm f/2 Ernostar, serial no. 150297, sold at the 42nd Auction;
    • Ermanox body serial no. 1185098 with 10cm f/2 Ernostar, serial no. 150503, sold at the sixteenth Auction;
    • Ermanox body serial no. 1185290 with 10cm f/2 Ernostar, serial no. 150548, sold at the twelfth Auction;
    • Ermanox body serial no. 1039149, with 10cm f/2 Ernostar serial no. 150618 (the first seen with the more precise focus scale), sold at the 32nd Auction;
    • Ermanox body serial no. 1185381, with with 10cm f/2 Ernostar serial no. 150666
    • Ermanox with 10cm f/2 Ernostar, serial no. 150802, sold at the 20th Auction;
    • Ermanox with 10cm f/2 Ernostar, serial no. 150967, sold at the eighteenth Auction;
    • Ermanox body serial no. 1185547, with 10cm f/2 Ernostar, serial no. 151067, sold at the eighth Auction;
    • Ermanox with 10cm f/2 Ernostar, serial no. 166029, and with plate-holders and a Rollex rollfilm back (for 127 film), sold at the nineteenth Auction;
    • Ermanox body serial no. 1253577, with 8.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar, serial no. 167170, with its box, sold at the sixteenth Auction;
    • Ermanox body serial no. 1253836, with 8.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar, serial no. 167552, leather impressed with 'Ernemann', but with a round Zeiss Ikon badge next to the viewfinder; sold at the eighth Auction.
    • Ermanox (exposure table in English and focusing in feet) with 8.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar, serial no. 167569; sold at the 28th Auction.
    • Ermanox body serial no. 1254444, with 8.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar, serial no. 167639, sold at the eighteenth Auction;
    • Ermanox (English table, focus in feet) with 8.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar, serial no. 1109182 (seems not to fit with other serials; cannot be read in auction photos); Zeiss Ikon badge on top. Sold at the 34th Auction;
  • 4.5x6cm Reflex examples:
    • Ermanox Reflex with 10.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar, serial no. 179626, sold at the eighteenth Auction;
    • Ermanox Reflex with 10.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar, serial no. 179705, sold at the thirteenth Auction;
    • Ermanox Reflex with 10.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar, serial no. 205312, sold at the seventeenth Auction;
    • Ermanox Reflex with 10.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar, serial no. 917021, made for Ernemann by Carl Zeiss Jena, sold at the sixth Auction;
    • Ermanox Reflex with 10.5cm f/1.8 CZJ Ernostar, serial no. 917072 sold at the 28th Auction;
    • Ermanox Reflex with 10.5cm f/1.8 CZJ Ernostar, serial no. 917099, sold at the 20th Westlicht Auction;
  • 6.5x9cm examples:
  • 9x12cm examples:
    • 9x12cm strut-folding Ermanox with 16.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar, serial no. 166982, and precise focus scale, sold at the 34th Auction;
    • Tropical 9x12cm strut-folding Ermanox serial number 1053977 (exposure table in French), with 16.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar serial no. 166993, and with matching plate holders, filmpack holder and focusing screen, sold (for 38400 Euro) at the 24th Westlicht Auction;
  • 9x12cm Ermanox serial no. 1051646, with 16.5cm f/1.8 Ernostar serial no. 167048 at the George Eastman Museum.
  • Roll-film back for 4.5x6cm Ermanox badged for Salomon, with shoe-mounting brilliant finder, and with unused roll of film, in a tropical container; at the seventh Westlicht Auction.
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