As I mentioned in the previous FED3 Analogue post, my reintroduction to film photography came after 20+ years of digital came via a number of auction job lots, bought sight unseen.
Of the various folding cameras that arrived in a box of many, I fell for the Ensign Selfix 820 as soon as I opened the front cover. The lens and bellows were so much more solid than the others, and the front element much larger.
This was another of my lucky cameras. While the shutter is a little stick at slower speeds, the rest of the camera is in great shape, no light leaks and all working as it should. Not bad for a camera from the late 1940s.
As a medium format camera, it will shoot 12 exposures of 6x6cm on a roll of 120 film. However, it’s party trick is a pair of barn door folding masks in the back of the camera. When folded back, a full 6x9cm area of film is exposed!
The main image in this post was taken on Aldeburgh Beach in Suffolk, UK. It was a challenge to shoot, in the howling gale coming in off the sea. Shallow depth of field, a wobbling tripod and the folding viewfinder continually… well, folding, made for an interesting experience.
As there is no built-in rangefinder, distance to the bow of the boat had to be estimated. Happily on this occasion I got it right!
The lack of focusing assistance and difficulty in using the viewfinder means it needs a considered approach and has stopped this being my go-to film camera for now. The 35mm FED3 and Yashica Lynx14, with it’s bright f1.4 lens win in this area. However, I’ll be keeping it for those times when I have a little more time available… and need the surface area of the 6×9 format.
Of course, there’s always another camera that might fill the role… perhaps the Ensign Commando, born out of WW2 and first available as a civilian camera in 1946. More on that in another post!
Alan Copson ©