Amateur Photographer – 16 August 2019

subscribe (^03303331113) Iwww.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 10 August 2019 53
TonyKemplenontheÉ
TonyKemplen’sloveof photographybeganasa teenagerandeversincehehasbeencollectingcameraswitha viewto testingasmanyashecan.You
canfollowhisprogressonhis 52 Cameras blogat52cameras.blogspot.co.uk. More photos from the Tenax:www.fl ickr.com/tony_kemplen/
sets/72157708867565473/
Goerz Tenax
Tech Talk
Themechanicalleafshutteronthis
Tenax was working perfectly
‘Framingthesubject
canbea bitofa
hit-and-missaffair’
W
henI sawthe
nameTenax
onthisrather
splendidold
foldingcamerafrommydad’s
collection,I assumedthatit was
madebyZeissIkon– afterallthey
madea numberof cameraswith
theTenaxnameovera periodof
halfa century.Closerexamination
showsthatit wasmadebythe
Berlinfirm,Goerz,whichwasone
of fivecameramakersthatwere
broughttogetherto formZeiss
Ikonin 1926.Someexistingnames
werecarriedforwardintothenew
company,andthatexplainsmy
initialconfusionaboutthisone.
Thiscamerais substantially
biggerthana familiar 120 folding
camera,asit usesthelong-
obsolete 124 film,whichmade
3 ¼x 4¼inchnegativesona
paperbackedroll.
Likemostlarger-format
camerasfromtheperiod(this
one’sfrom1909),theTenax
wouldalsohavehada plateback
available.Thisis confirmedbythe
presenceof twofocusingscales,
totakeaccountof thefactthat
a glassplatein itsholderwillbe
furtherawayfromthelensthana
rollof film.If you’renotawareof
this,it’seasytousethewrong
scaleandhavea rollof thoroughly
out-of-focusnegatives;believe
me,I’vedoneit!
Thelensandshutterassembly
areonanadjustablemount,
whichallowsbothverticaland
horizontalshiftstobemadein
ordertocorrectundesirable
perspectives,thoughthisfeature
couldonlyhavebeenusedwhen
employingplatesratherthanfilm,
usingthegroundglassfocusing
screentoobservetheeffects
of thelensmovementsbefore
committingtomakingan
exposure. Photography really
wasa lotslowerin theoldendays.
I wasn’tsurprisedtofindthat
thepneumaticallycontrolled
Compoundshutterwasworking
perfectlythroughoutthefullrange
of speeds– in myexperience
thesemechanicalleafshutters,
andtheirsuccessortheCompur,
justrunandrun.
Withnopossibilityof obtaining
any 124 fi lm, I decided to use 120
instead.Thisneededa bitof
fiddlingaroundtoload,andsome
calculationsabouthowmanyturns
of thewind-onkeywereneeded
toadvanceit, asclearlyI couldn’t
usethelittleredwindowbecause
mybackingpaperdidn’thavethe
numbersin therightplace.
Framingthesubjectcanbea bit
of a hit-and-missaffairwiththese
oldcameras.Thelittlereflective
waist-levelviewfinderis awkward
enoughtouseat thebestof
times,butquiteoftentheyhave
becomeslightlywonky,andnot
quiteperpendicular,makingit
evenhardertobeaccurate– I
findit’sbesttoselecta subject
andviewpointwherea little
latitudewon’truintheresult.
Theintendedsizeof the
negativeimageswas8x10.5cm,
butwith 120 filmbeing6cmwide,
thisleftmewitha mildly
panoramicaspectratiofor
myphotographs,which
seemedtosuittheGlass
PavilionsdesignedbyJoseph
Paxtonin Sheffield’sBotanical
Gardens (see above).
Thisfoldingcamerafrom 1909 takestheobsolete
124 fi lm but, happily, 120 fi lm can be used too
The aspect ratio suited the Glass Pavilions at Sheffield Botanical Gardens
© TONY KEMPLEN
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