So today I’ve been shooting this 1934 Ensign Midget camera. Long story short is yesterday I was gifted a load of old film camera’s and accessories from a lovely lady whose husband had passed away, they were his and she would rather them be used and respected than end up in a charity shop. I’m going to use all the cameras gifted to me but I’m starting off with this Ensign Midget camera as I absolutely love it!
I’m not sure what film is already in it or how long it’s been in there so I’ve opted to shoot it at 125 Iso and I will stand develop in Rodinal when I finish the roll. I’ve got 4 shots out of the 6 left to shoot. I might get something or I might not bit it’s going to be fun trying!
This little camera is amazing, I mean I absolutely love it! It’s equipped with various speed settings T, B, 25, 50 and 100th second and has a focusing lens ranging from 3ft, 5ft, 8ft, 12ft and infinity.
It has a beautifully bright viewfinder that toggles out between landscape and portrait orientation. It’s proper ace!
It uses 127 film which can be still found in various places but 35mm film can be used if I hand roll and re-use some backing paper either from this original roll or cut up some of my medium format backing paper which I’ve kept for such scenarios. The only down side to 35mm is the sprocket holes will be in the way but that doesn’t bother me too much in-fact it will look pretty cool.
It also came with its original case and manual, a nice little touch is that the manual is the same size as the camera and it has the camera front and back printed on the covers. This little camera will now venture out across the UK with me! I’ve included a few photos next to a 35mm film canister to show scale.
Once I finish the roll, develop and scan the negatives I will post them here.
