Identifying a camera?

[Ash]

Hey all,

I thought I'd ask here, since I'm all out of ideas to Google.

My grandfather gave me a Zeiss Ikon Nettar 515, that's pretty obvious what it is, and how old. It belonged to his brother, my father's uncle Gordon. Lot of sentimental attachment.

BUT!

My grandfather also gave me another camera. He'd bought it in the 50's from a second hand (pawn) shop for his wife, my grandmother.

There is no marking on the camera to identify what it is. All I know is it's a 6x9 folder.
The only information I can give to help identify it is as follows:

Lens: Spezial Aplanat f/8 10,5cm
Aperture: Sliding lever along lower area of camera 8 11 16 25(?) 32 (these are well worn and dull, difficult to read)
Shutter - self-cocking lever: Vario - 25 50 100 B T
Viewfinder: reflective mirror thing (with the top and front magnifiers and a 45degree mirror)
Focusing: Rail. lens extends on small rail and clicks into place.. There is a small ivory-looking (probably faux, or plastic) focusing tab, like a ruler with INF 30 16 10 6 FEET


Inside on either side where the spools go there are the markings DRP and DRGM respectively. This leads me to believe it's german, as well as the spelling of the lens name, and use of cm and a comma on the focal length.

The inner black metal has a painted finish, kind of like a half matte, half shiny crackle effect. Pretty old looking!


I THINK from a search for the lens on google an east-asian site called one an Ernemann, but there wasn't a photo of the camera they used.

The Vario shutter can't be older than 1912, and if it's an Ernemann it can't be younger than 1926.


I'm halfway through restoring the finish. I stripped the old tired and grotty black leather and it's replaced with vegetable tanned goatskin from a friend in the Philippines, so I doubt anyone here has seen one with the same finish. Looks a little rubbish right now, the edges need cleaning up, and paint needs redoing before I can say it looks half decent.







Anyway! That's all I can tell you, so what can you tell me??

Can someone here enlighten me on the camera?

Thanks!

[Ash]

Here's a photo at RitzCam

Ernemann, 6x9 Folding Camera w/10.5cm f8 Spezial-Aplanat in Vario (120 film) #9957xxx (8)

So it's definitely an ernemann.... but how old??

[Juergen Sattler]

Ash,

I might be wrong, but I don;t think this is an Ernemann camera - the front standard and the Vario shutter just don't fit the bill. The camera is certainly from the 1920 area - I will keep digging and let you know if I come up with a positive ID.

[Ash]

Thanks Juergen. I found about 3 references to it being an Ernemann. One being Ritz, another being the Asian site with a 135mm folder with vario shutter and spezial aplanat lens, and a third site with pdf catalogue download with the same lens/shutter/film-size under Ernemann. That was enough to convince me a little

[Ash]

Here's another link http://licm.org.uk/livingImage/DRP.html

Here's the ArizonaCamera link from google too http://www.arizonacamera.com/pix/catalog.pdf

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
Nikon, One-Touch Zoom 90s AF Quartz Date w/38-90mm Zoom+Macro lens, case ... Ernemann, 6x9 Folding Camera w/10.5cm f8 Spezial-Aplanat in Vario (120 film) ...
www.arizonacamera.com/pix/catalog.pdf - Similar pages

So that's all I can find in reference to the camera. Any other members here got an idea? thanks!