Meet the Smallest Selfix

The English Ensign camera name went through several permutations pre-WWII. I believe it originated in the early years of the 20th century with George Houghton and Company, a manufacturer that morphed through Houghton-Butcher, Barnet Ensign, Barnet Ensign Ross, and finally Ross-Ensign. Ross, of course, was an English lens manufacturer of great repute, and in 1950 the first Ross-Ensign Selfix 16-20 camera appeared. It went through various design modifications, ending in this version, the Model IV.

 

 

Ross-Ensign Selfix 16-20 Model IV

The Selfix 16-20 will accept either 120 or 620 film, and allows sixteen 6cm x 4.5cm exposures per film. With the camera in the upright position, as pictured above, the frame is landscape, and the camera must be turned on it's side for the vertical format. In appearance, this model is similar to the Model I which, of course, isn't the first model. Only the English can do things this like this... The first model and several subsequent models had fold-down Albada viewfinders, and were notorious for having a spike concealed in the shutter release button that pricked one's finger if an attempt was made to take a photograph without the shutter being cocked. Once again, who else but the English... However, by the time this model was produced in 1953 this idea had been abandoned, I'm pleased to relate. The Model IV has a 75mm Rosstar f/4.5 lens that stops down to f/22 and a eight-speed Epsilon shutter with a top speed of 1/300th, a device with something of a reputation for fragility and unreliability. It's inadvisable to alter the speeds after cocking the shutter, and I try to bear this in mind. I suspect the Rosstar lens is considered second-tier to the Ross 75mm Xpres f/3.5 lens fitted to other models, but I can't confirm this. I can find no information pertaining to the Rossstar; I originally anticipated it being of triplet construction but after having seen the images it produces I'm leaning towards a four-element theory. It's very sharp, very contrasty and almost totally lacking in distortions. Quite remarkable. Should anyone have any relevant information I'd be pleased to see it.

 

Here's a pic of the front of the camera.

 

 

The overall construction is good, very solid with a cast metal body The interior is a little poorly-finished around the film mask, and the last fold of the bellows overlap the frame by a minute amount, just enough to give the negatives an annoying "hairy edge" on one side. The base has three solid discs, the centre one housing a good strong tripod mount while the two end ones house sprung-loaded spool pins that retract to allow easy film loading. There is another tripod mount underneath the fold-down front plate.

 

 

Overall, it's a nice little camera to use, once one gets into the swing of it, remembering to advance the film numbers in the red window on the back, cock the shutter, guesstimate the distance and set it on the rather poorly-marked focus ring, set shutter speeds and aperture, squint through the viewfinder, hold your breath and squeeze the shutter release. Folded, it fits easily into a jacket pocket. The results were far better than I'd expected; I put the camera through a torture test of very bright low-angle sun and the Rosstar lens came through with colours flying. Just what one would expect of an English lens, I guess. Film was Arista EDU Ultra 100 developed in PMK Pyro and scanned on an Epson V700 Photo using Silverfast SE software.

 

Sweet and Salty

 

Avenue

 

 

Plaque

 

 

Concrete 001

 

 

Doorway : Late afternoon

 

 

Seat

 

 

Gusto

 

 

Library

 

 

Concrete 002

 

Edited April 23, 2017 by rick_drawbridge

Nice images, Rick. I don't believe I've heard of that model. Thanks.

Sterling work with the little Selfix. These seem to punch above their weight in terms of image quality despite the smaller negative size, compared to, for example, the 6x9 820's. Even with the apparently lesser Ross Star lens, as you have shown. I've got one with the Xpres lens and pop up finder, as here:

 

An Ensign Selfix 16-20

I'm always astounded by th models you find.. and even you are stumped a bit on the lens here?? Perhaps Pete in Perth can enlighten us. He hasn't posted for some time here but he seemed an expert for this kind of "English" folder.

Seems indeed quite sharp and in your very capable hands returns excellent images. All the 645 folders are amazingly small and could pass for 35 folders. This reversed portrait landscape is tricky till you get your mind set straight. Over the years I've come to prefer this format over say the square format. I used to "get it" but found myself cropping them anyway

thanks for enlightening me on this very cool folder.... Fuel to the GAS fire :)

Thanks for the responses. You're right, John, the results I achieved with this camera are better by far than those that came from the Selfix 820, despite the negatives being half the size, possibly because it's a far nicer camera to handle. I might try to find one with the Xpres lens, so I can make a comparison. You certainly produced some fine work with yours. You're right, Chuck, the 645 format inspired some great folding cameras, with excellent lenses, and still in a pocketable size. Thanks, Mike, for your continuing support.

Thank you for the excellent description and images Rick. I found them both helpful when looking to acquire a vintage folder. Happily, I came by a nice example of this particular model, and it is a real joy. So compact, but also works nicely in its ever-ready case. I’ve got some nice prints from my first roll. It pleases me that these things were so well made as to be in working order decades later (though my shutter is sticky on 1s, but that’s no big issue). I was shooting the same day with a Zeiss Nettar 515/2 6x9 and an Agfa Isolette I (6x6) so it will be interesting to compare the results.

Please do post stuwilmur

 

It got a very nice lens on it ...