Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-07-18)

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk 53

Tony Kemplen on the ...

Ensign E29

Tech Talk

I

’ve had the Ensign E29 for

many years, yet it never

made it into my ten-year,

522 camera project. It’s not

that I’ve anything against box

cameras, in fact I like their

simplicity and solidity, but this one

uses the long-obsolete E29 fi lm,

and somehow I never got around

to devising a suitable workaround.

E29 fi lm is 50mm wide, putting

it somewhere between the 46mm

of 127 fi lm, and the 60mm of 120.

It was last made around 1950, and

until recently I’d never come across

aroll.LastyearIpickeduparollof

‘Leeda’chromefor£5atan

antiquescentre.Itwasunusedand

initsoriginalbox,marked‘develop

before1938’.Youwouldbe

forgivenforthinkingthatit’sacolour

film,assincethe1950sthesuffix

‘chrome’hasindicatedacolour

slidefilm.Backinthedaysof

predominantlyblack&white

photography,itgenerallymeant

thatthefilmwaspanchromatic

(sensitivetoallcoloursofthe

spectrum)asopposedtothe

earlierorthochromaticfilmsthat

lackedredsensitivity.

Notthebestresults

Todate,theoldestfilmthatI’ve

usedwasfrom1944,andthe

resultswerepassable,soIwas

hopefulthatImightgetsomething

onthis80-year-oldstock.Itwas

disappointing,butperhapsnot

surprising,thatthenegatives

cameoutcompletelyblack.Itdid

atleastprovidemewithaspindle

andbackingpaperthatIcould

re-rollwithsomecutdown 120

film.Idon’thaveadarkroom,so

withintheconfinesofachanging

bag,Imadeabitofadog’sdinner

oftheprocess,butnevertheless

Unfortunatelytheaircraftare

blurred,andIthinkinthiscasethis

isdowntoafocusissuerather

thansubjectmovement.

Thefocusisfixed,butthereisa

smalllensthatcanbeswunginto

makethefocuscloser.Thepilots

wereatleast2mawayfromme,

soIthoughtIwouldn’tneedthis

lens.Subsequentreadingsuggests

thatitwasintendedfor

subjectscloserthan3m,

sowithhindsightIshould

haveusedit.Attempting

tophotographamoving

subjectisfurther

complicatedbythetiny

viewfinderscreen,andthe

absenceofanythingto

shadeitfromthesun.OK,

I’mmakingexcusesnow,

butIdon’tthinkitwould

havebeenparticularly

unusualforuserstohave

beendisappointedbyblurred

orunderexposedsnapshots

backintheday.Giventhehigh

standardsofthephotosinthis

magazine,Ihesitatedbefore

includingthisone,butIthinkitis

probablytruetothecamera.

An old roll of  lm picked up for a  ver led to a

photographic outing with an Ensign E29 box camera

© TONY KEMPLEN

Tony Kemplen’s love of photography began as a teenager and ever since he has been collecting cameras with a view to testing as many as he can. You

can follow his progress on his 52 Cameras blog at 52cameras.blogspot.co.uk. See more photos from the Ensign E29 at

http://www.fl ickr.com/tony_kemplen/sets/72157714286420563

wasabletoloadthecamera.

Thereareonlysixexposuresona

rollofE29,eachnegativebeing

2x3in,soIdidn’thavetoomany

problemsfindingenoughsubjects

duringmydailywalkinthepark.It

beingVEDay,therewasevena

flypastofsortstophotograph.

TheEnsign

E29andthe

‘Leeda’chromefilm

initsoriginalbox

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Tony’s attempt at using the Ensign E29 during VE Day commemorations