Re: Who Made this Tripod?
Look carefully. Somewhere it should say Made in East Germany. I have one exactly like it. And if it does not Its not a super valueable one anyway. I do not think it's a Gitzo.
Re: Who Made this Tripod?
A very similar tripod came with one of my German 9x12 cameras and there's a lot more like it of various makes shown in pre & post WWII British Journal of Photography adverts & new product reviews.
It's condition & age may be deceptive I have a pre WWII Avo lightmeter which looks mint particularly the leather case.
Houghton and also Butcher, then Houghton Butcher later renamed Ensign (A Houghton brand name) were making cameras before Zeiss (inc roll film) so they didn't really copy and there were a large number of similar competitors some in the UK but mainly in Germany.
Ian
Re: Who Made this Tripod?
It looks very much like a deJur tripod I had in the 60's. deJur was rebranding mostly German gear back then, it came with the 35mm camera I purchased, don't recollect the actual maker of the camera.
Looked in my notebook -Neidig Perlux- IIa camera, also Braun accessories, the company was deJur- AMSCO. Possibly a Braun tripod.
Re: Who Made this Tripod?
Except for the ball head instead of a pan head it looks very much like the current Giottos RT 8150 8-section tripod.
http://www.giottos.com/ click on products then RT tripods to see it.
Re: Who Made this Tripod?
Busy week so haven't caught up. I checked the tripod and case carefully. I can't find either a name nor place of manufacture yet. I suspect it is French, ca late 1930's as it resembles one I have seen with a 3/8" screw post. I saw a very similar one on E-* where the celler said it was "turn of the century." Didn't say whether 19th or 20th however. If Chinese, I'd suspect turn of the 20th. No markings though.
I took the Ensign 1620 out on a photo hunt to Les Baux de Provence, Daudet's Mill at Fontview then on to Aigues Morte. I used ASA100 T-Max B/W film, eyeballing distance, but used a Zeiss lightmeter.
I was surprised to find that I got 16 exposures off a 12-exposure roll of T-Max. The little Ensign isn't 6X6 square but 4.5X6 (approx) and winding manually revealed that the film is marked up to 16 exposures. With a Rollei, and other TLR's, we don't get to see the film number, just advance to the next stop. I wasnt' aware that the film paper was labelled to 16.
Now I know why the shutter button on the Ensign is on the left near the film wind knob instead of on the right top. Shooting landscape, the shutter button is handily located under the left forefinger. And the 120 film loads flawlessly in the 620 frame as the British planned for use of both 120 and 620 film. Nice springloaded spool holders easily load both spool sizes.
Now to finish another roll or two, then a trip to Nimes for development. Then I'll have to wait 3 weeks or so until I return to the US so I can scan the negs.
Tom