Mos6502
Well-known
In the very early days of amateur photography, it was possible to get box cameras of the finest specification - equal in most respects (except for lack of tilts and swings) to the best bellows cameras. The introduction of Kodak's point and shoot Brownie box cameras however moved the box camera to the lowest ranks in a company's product line. The box camera was the entry point, no frills, made of cardboard and wood, fixed focus, one or two aperture stops, and sometimes a time exposure setting for the shutter. For about two decades this was the state of things for box cameras. Then toward the end of the 1920s, Ensign introduced their All-Distance box camera. It cost a lot more than their basic wooden box cameras, but it was still less expensive than their most basic folding camera (which it matched in all features, except compactness).
Ensign All Distance by Berang Berang, on Flickr
The main selling point of the camera was its "All-Distance" lens. According to the manual, the lens could make sharp images at all distances beyond three feet. Astonishingly it does so with two focus zones. With the lens pulled out (so the manual claims) everything from three feet to nine feet will be in focus. With the lens pushed in, everything from nine feet to infinity will be in focus. A modern photographer will no-doubt know this is practically impossible, but given the user was expected to make contact prints, the end results were close enough to give an impression of truth in advertising.
However, this wasn't the only deluxe feature of the camera. It also featured all metal construction, wire framed sports finder, tripod sockets, and a unique hinged body so no parts could come loose and get lost.
Ensign All Distance by Berang Berang, on Flickr
Ensign All Distance by Berang Berang, on Flickr
However, the most baffling bit of technical excess (and a feature that was deleted in subsequent generations of the model) is the pressure plate, which is linked with the red window cover. When the cover is lifted from the red window, spring tension on the pressure plate is released allowing free winding of the film. When the cover is lowered, the pressure plate is pushed down snug onto the back of the film. The actual mechanism is remarkably simple, the "hinge" of the red window cover is a piece of stiff wire, one end of which has a little cranked bend in it which rotates into and out of position behind the strip spring that holds the pressure plate in place. Quite ingenuous, but rather a bit of technical overkill when you consider the meniscus lens isn't going to deliver much more with perfectly flat film than it would without it.
Ensign All Distance by Berang Berang, on Flickr
I've previously used one the art-deco models from the 1930s. The all-distance feature had a rather odd effect, where when the lens was extended, the depth of focus indeed moved closer to the camera, and yet there was no perceptible softening of the background as would be expected. Even when I put the negative in an enlarger and cranked it up as high as it would go, I couldn't see a difference. This is probably because the far setting of the lens is a little too close for actual hyperfocal distance - everything beyond about 50 or so feet is slightly soft - so using the close setting doesn't make an apparent difference, infinity going from slight soft, to very slightly softer. Given the edges are soft at all distances too, the close focus zone really doesn't do much except in the center of the frame.
Ensign All Distance by Berang Berang, on Flickr
A crop from an enlargement demonstrates... this is magnified far more than anybody in the 1920s would have dared, on a contact print the softness which is apparent here would have been basically invisible.
Anyway, there were a few other well-spec'd box cameras after the Ensign. Certo, Zeiss, Agfa made a few with zone focus and other options during the 1930s, but I feel like none of those match the overkill of the first Ensign All-Distance. Obviously there must have been some miscalculation, as the 2nd and 3rd generation All-Distance box cameras cut back some on features, deleting the pressure plate, the tripod socket, and reducing the stops from three to two (although the 3rd generation introduced a built in yellow filter!). It's a bit funny to think of a box camera being over-engineered, but if ever there was one, this is it.
Ensign All Distance by Berang Berang, on FlickrThe main selling point of the camera was its "All-Distance" lens. According to the manual, the lens could make sharp images at all distances beyond three feet. Astonishingly it does so with two focus zones. With the lens pulled out (so the manual claims) everything from three feet to nine feet will be in focus. With the lens pushed in, everything from nine feet to infinity will be in focus. A modern photographer will no-doubt know this is practically impossible, but given the user was expected to make contact prints, the end results were close enough to give an impression of truth in advertising.
However, this wasn't the only deluxe feature of the camera. It also featured all metal construction, wire framed sports finder, tripod sockets, and a unique hinged body so no parts could come loose and get lost.
Ensign All Distance by Berang Berang, on FlickrEnsign All Distance by Berang Berang, on FlickrHowever, the most baffling bit of technical excess (and a feature that was deleted in subsequent generations of the model) is the pressure plate, which is linked with the red window cover. When the cover is lifted from the red window, spring tension on the pressure plate is released allowing free winding of the film. When the cover is lowered, the pressure plate is pushed down snug onto the back of the film. The actual mechanism is remarkably simple, the "hinge" of the red window cover is a piece of stiff wire, one end of which has a little cranked bend in it which rotates into and out of position behind the strip spring that holds the pressure plate in place. Quite ingenuous, but rather a bit of technical overkill when you consider the meniscus lens isn't going to deliver much more with perfectly flat film than it would without it.
Ensign All Distance by Berang Berang, on FlickrI've previously used one the art-deco models from the 1930s. The all-distance feature had a rather odd effect, where when the lens was extended, the depth of focus indeed moved closer to the camera, and yet there was no perceptible softening of the background as would be expected. Even when I put the negative in an enlarger and cranked it up as high as it would go, I couldn't see a difference. This is probably because the far setting of the lens is a little too close for actual hyperfocal distance - everything beyond about 50 or so feet is slightly soft - so using the close setting doesn't make an apparent difference, infinity going from slight soft, to very slightly softer. Given the edges are soft at all distances too, the close focus zone really doesn't do much except in the center of the frame.
Ensign All Distance by Berang Berang, on FlickrA crop from an enlargement demonstrates... this is magnified far more than anybody in the 1920s would have dared, on a contact print the softness which is apparent here would have been basically invisible.
Anyway, there were a few other well-spec'd box cameras after the Ensign. Certo, Zeiss, Agfa made a few with zone focus and other options during the 1930s, but I feel like none of those match the overkill of the first Ensign All-Distance. Obviously there must have been some miscalculation, as the 2nd and 3rd generation All-Distance box cameras cut back some on features, deleting the pressure plate, the tripod socket, and reducing the stops from three to two (although the 3rd generation introduced a built in yellow filter!). It's a bit funny to think of a box camera being over-engineered, but if ever there was one, this is it.
neal3k
Well-known
Thanks for a great story about a fascinating camera.
David Hughes
David Hughes
Interesting article, thanks.
If anyone is interested there's a 1930 Ensign catalogue here:-
https://www.pacificrimcamera.com/rl/00704/00704.pdf
The focusing doesn't seem much of a mystery; looking at the simple calculations for DoF. A 120 negative wouldn't have needed much magnification and so the CoC could be fairly (cf Leica!) large.
Regards, David
PS Just remembered I've one in the heap somewhere I must dig it out and have a play with it; I mean continue my research...
If anyone is interested there's a 1930 Ensign catalogue here:-
https://www.pacificrimcamera.com/rl/00704/00704.pdf
The focusing doesn't seem much of a mystery; looking at the simple calculations for DoF. A 120 negative wouldn't have needed much magnification and so the CoC could be fairly (cf Leica!) large.
Regards, David
PS Just remembered I've one in the heap somewhere I must dig it out and have a play with it; I mean continue my research...
Pál_K
Cameras. I has it.
Thanks - good reading.
Mos6502
Well-known
You're forgetting focal length, I think. With a 100mm lens, the hyperfocal distance for a 6x9 frame is about 29 feet, which would put the near limit of focus at about 15 feet. If we want the near limit to be 9 feet, which is what the manual states the near limit is for the lens in its normal position, the lens has to be set to about 15 feet, and this puts the far limit of the depth of field at about 30 feet. This seems close to what I see in the negatives. Things get a little harder to believe with the 3 feet to 9 feet claim for the extended lens, as even at f/16, this is a big stretch. I have not taken a measuring tape out to test the absolute near limit of the lens, but I'm suspecting it's probably something around 5 feet rather than three.
Muggins
Junk magnet
Funnily enough, my All-Distance Ensign cropped up in Amateur Photographer a little while ago, see below. I've not given it as thorough an investigation as yours, but I agree utterly on how over-engineered it is. Worse, despite all the engineering, I find the No2 Model F Kodak takes better pics!
I shall have a look at that catalogue later - I have a 1915 one, in fact my avatar comes from the endpaper.
My lastest Amateur Photographer article by gray1720, on Flickr
I shall have a look at that catalogue later - I have a 1915 one, in fact my avatar comes from the endpaper.
My lastest Amateur Photographer article by gray1720, on Flickr
Muggins
Junk magnet
Oooh, now, that's even more interesting than I expected! I have one of the very first camera, the Junior Box Ensign - these were often given away in promotions, apparently, by John Bull magazine, a publication that was probably somewhere slightly to the left of Genghis Khan, as they conveniently shared initials. It is also hilariously cheaply built. Obviously I have an All-Distance Ensign, and I also have a red All-Distance Pocket Ensign:
Red Ensign 2 by gray1720, on Flickr
David Hughes
David Hughes
My thoughts were that a 1930's box camera would be designed for someone who only uses contact prints. The CoC would be huge by our standards and the DoF gross...
I'd calculate it if I had the time and so on...
Regards, David
PS And if the system accepts this it will be a first this week; fingers crossed...
Dralowid
Michael
Worth mentioning that Ensign made a rather nice rangefinder folder (Autorange?) some of which had quite high spec lenses (Ross etc). I used my elder bro's once when young.
I do not remember if they were front cell or unit focussing but I suppose it doesn't really matter...
I do not remember if they were front cell or unit focussing but I suppose it doesn't really matter...
Muggins
Junk magnet
Kodak invented the coupled rangefinder in, I think, 1916, and Ensign were making one under - yes - the Autorange name by the mid 1920s. The last of the line, the Autorange 820 probably finished the company off circa 1960, and as only a thousand or so were built is now worth a bomb on ebay. Sadly the only Autorange I've ever handled, a 1920s model, had been butchered with the RF removed.
Mos6502
Well-known
Since I acquired an enlarger that can handle 6x9 negs, I decided to revisit my test roll from this camera. Here is a test of the near limit of the close focus setting.
Ensign All-Distance by Berang Berang, on Flickr
The wall is about 3.5 feet away from the camera. Yes, it's a bit soft, but nobody would notice if it were a contact print.
Ensign All-Distance by Berang Berang, on FlickrThe wall is about 3.5 feet away from the camera. Yes, it's a bit soft, but nobody would notice if it were a contact print.