Plate holders of a Ernemann Klapp-Camera 13x18

[Rosoi Vlad]

Hello!

I just bought this camera I"m super exited but I know it need a lot of work, I don't have it yet... so till then I want to try gathering some info.


As you can see it come with bygone era film back...

I was wondering if plate holders come into some kind of standard, so I can buy from ebay some, or if I can get hold of some dimensions and start at least gather some materials...

(I know the shutter does not close all the way.-i hope I will resolve this- I have some experience with 35mm camera repairs...

Thank you, for reading.

[Rosoi Vlad]

*pictures are not mine, they are from the listing. (they are all almost proposedly bad...)

[Daniel Unkefer]

Ooooo Nice Ernemann interesting how it retracts into the body. Solid Flat Leather check for leaks. Shutter may need dusting and cleaning. I think RADA made plate holders, planfilm (13x18cm my guess) or perhaps glass plates. You could make glass dry plates for it and coat the glass yourself. What a cool camera! Ernemanns are historical. I'll wager you can cut down Planfilm if you have septums for modern planfilm inside your holding box.

Dealerships all over Europe sell metric 13x18 planfilm it's a professional size and I have a lot of it in storage myself.

Look here first:

https://www.galerie-photo.com/manuels/dos-rada.pdf

Then next here:

https://www.fotoimpex.com/shop/syste...h=13x18%20film

[Rosoi Vlad]

I've bee browsing a little and a found a scan of a flyer...
So the camera originally was sold as the body+ "normal" holders , my "film back" holder is an extra.
@Daniel Unkefer I live in E.U. here 13x18cm film are quite "common". or ... lets say if the shop sells 5x7 chances are they will also have 13x18... (chances are I will buy from foma- as it is cheap and decent)
The camera will need work. I already already seen from the pictures some damage, (sadly I thing even the curtain will need to go...) more on this when I get it.
The camera is made before any standard where made to film holders. ( this ones have a lock and a "thing" that needs to slide in the body... the only ones I've seen are with a body and... not cheap. (the ones here are 8x12xm)
The plan is after repairing the camera to make two adapters to slide in the body, one for a ground glass and shade and another that receive commercial holders (maybe 5x7 to have a better selection of film-Ii know holders have the same size outside-I don't have any of them)

[Steven Tribe]

This style of camera was supplied with a standard lens with focussing movement shown on the side of the lens ( 1m, 2m, 5m etc.) parallel with the f scale for aperture adjustment. So it didn’t need a GG back! Which is why the full format roll back was a popular original choice or later replacement. It could be adapted to take a plate holder which has been modified to have a ground glass in the film/plate plane. Use of any other lens with a different equivalent focal length would require some kind of distance adjustment. Only small changes in the focal length are possible, unless some kind of lens board system is mounted on the front.
This is made around the turn of the century and it is very likely that the original 13x18cm cassettes were the wooden type for glass plates. It is likely that Ernemann used the same cassette design for all their (many) other 13x18 designs.
95% of all focal plane shutters of this era either have at least one major or are completely inoperative!
Unfortunately the design is about as mechanically perfect as an old fashioned alarm clock and we’re probably designed to last perhaps 10 years. Springs are always either broken or weakened. The curtain material is always stiffened and even if not holed, need replacement -otherwise you will never be sure that the release is 100%. Curtain material is available - at a price, as the same material is sold for small post WW2 cameras with tiny curtains!

[Rosoi Vlad]

I know.
I hope the spring will be decent. seller says the shutter wont close completely-we shall see.
I have some experience with cameras, mainly rangefinders. From my point of view, being more crude, more chubby, more "clockwork" is a good thing- bigger parts- bigger tolerances.
I also have some sources of cloth, I don't know about the size but in a pinch I guess a changing bag will do. ( this one has a very nice logo, I hope to repair the original) at the moment, in anticipation, I just remove the paint from a ussr rangefinder shutter and I'm trying some acrylics 3 paint layers worked into the fabric- n now they need more drying. this variant actually seems more nicer then what i used before-contact cement+graphite powder.

delivery estimation is 13-15... sucks! for a 45€ transport fee...

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Ernemann made its own plateholders; I have the 9 x 12 and 10 x 15 Ernemann holders in my collection but no 13 x 18 since I don't have that camera:


German double plateholders by Ron (Netherlands), on Flickr

....and the shutter is hard to repair since you have to replace shutter cloth for which you have to disassemble the camera; you might be lucky if you only have to replace the ribbons.

Your Ernemann seems to be an early bird...can you discern any serialnumber on the body of the camera?

Here you'll find a catalogue:
http://www.cineressources.net/consul...b/o000/256.pdf

[Rosoi Vlad]

The camera is still "on the road" so no serial numbers of info. It looks indeed to be one of the first cameras on the market.
I found what it looks to be a 13.18 ernermann film? plate holder, but at 150usd, I'll pass. a friend of mine printed me thingiverse film holder-as a stand in.
I really like the logo on the cloth, i teste some solvents to remove old layers, I have tested some paints (acrylic and rubber)...without the actual camera... no much to do. (I believe I could modify the camera to accept standard ones..)
Anyway- repair and CLA the camera, focusing screen, film holders- not a fast job.
I prefer to have some adaptors till I found the real things... as finding them is not that easy..

More then likely I will have to think about if i want to keep it original, or... if I want to make it work...

Thank you for the pdf and photo.

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Welcome and glad to be of help: if you need some help when you are restoring the shutter; I have copies of patent documentation of some of the earlier Ernemann shutters. Karl Pritschow does also present a Ernemann shutter in his book, but it was the latest model and therefore not applicable to your camera.

By the way, currently an Ernemann Klapp-Camera 13x18, the same as yours is for sale on Ebay: one of the photos shows a matching Ernemann plateholder.