what camera is this

[pablo batt]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30665456@N06/3125045610/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30665456@N06/3125045558/

[Frank R]

It looks like a 9x12 pre-WWII German camera. From the thickness of the body it is probably made of wood. This was probably a lower end model since the intermediate and upper models were usually made from metal.

The dial set shutter is likely from the 1920's or earlier.

There were many of these made by many manufacturers so it is hard to tell.

[pablo batt]

hmm yes i thought as much, thanx for your info

25 euros for the kit, cant make up my mind on buying it :0)

9 x 12 would i guess need to be cut down fro 4x5

[W K Longcor]

I've got it's cousin on the shelf next to me right now. Imprint on the back ( pressed into the leather) is " CERTO" ( at least that is what it looks like to me). Actually a VERY nice little camera. Mine has a 16.5cm f/4.5 lens, marked Steinhell Munchen Doppelanastigmat Unifokal. Hope this is of some help.

[Frank R]

Efke 100 in 9x12 is available from Freestyle. No need to cut down unless you need transparency or color film.

[Frank R]

Are you located in Europe? If you are located in the US than the shipping will be expensive. These are not rare cameras and can be purchased over here for the same or lower prices.

More important: the one shown in the picture does not include any individual film holders, only an obsolete film pack. I would not buy any of these cameras unless they came with at least three film holders. There were no standards back then and it is frustrating to find the correct film holders

[aduncanson]

Mine has a 16.5cm f/4.5 lens, marked Steinhell Munchen Doppelanastigmat Unifokal.

Not to hijack thread thread, but I have been wondering if "Doppelanastigmat" implies a Dagor type lens when the term is used by somebody other than Goerz. The f/4.5 max aperture of this lens causes me to believe otherwise, but I went around with an eBay seller who insisted that it did.

My question is not completely off the OP's topic in that some of these old sheet film cameras do have interesting lenses. I have a friend who keeps tempting me with an 18cm Heliar on an old 10x15? Voigtlander camera.

[Ole Tjugen]

"Doppelanastigmat" merely means that the lens is symmetrical and that both halves are corrected for astigmatism.

In the case of the Unofokal, it's a dialyte-type with four uncemented elements. Originally all four elements had the same focal length - two positive, and two negative. Thus the name "Unofokal". Steinheil realised quite quickly that the lens would be better corrected if the focal lengths were slightly different, but the name stayed.

"Dagor" is only one type of Doppelanastigmat. Dialytes, Plasmats, Doppel-Gauss, Orthostigmat and so on are other types.

[fuland123]

Efke

[Vlad Soare]

I'd venture to say it's a Tenax (especially because of the centrally placed viewfinder), though there were many other cameras that looked like this. This design seems to have been pretty popular at that time.
Probably from the twenties.