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How to Use an Ensign Folding Camera

Ensign folding cameras came from a company started in 1834 by George Houghton and Antoine Claudet. The company began producing consumer-level folding cameras under the Ensign brand after 1930, although the company made cameras much earlier than this. Ensign cameras look and act like many other cameras from the same period--the 1930s to the 1950s--with the exception that some of them used 120 film instead of the more common 620. Today, it is much harder to find 620 film than 120, even though they are the same physical size.

Things You'll Need

Hand-held light meter
120 or 620 film

Instructions

- 1
  The manufacturer recommends opening the front of the camera by pulling on the metal tab at the front. Pull this down until the base locks with the bellows extended. Then, open the back of the camera. Depending upon the model of Ensign, the entire back may come off by moving a switch on the top of the camera body. Inside will be a take-up spool for the film. Load the 120 roll film into the empty side, then stretch it across to the take-up spool. Insert the end into the slot, then hold it there while winding the knob on top of the Ensign. Once the film is moving regularly, close the back. Wind the film until the first exposure is indicated in the window on the back. Note that in some models, there also is a switch to set the film plate pressure after film loading.
- 2
  Set the correct shutter speed on the front of the lens. For some models, such as the Ensign Selfix "20," there are only three shutter speeds. There may be more on other models. Set the aperture with the aperture ring, also situated on the ring around the lens. These settings should be based on indications from the hand-held light meter, based upon the speed of the film along with lighting conditions.
- 3
  View the image through either the waist-level viewfinder or directly through the framing viewfinder at the top of the camera. The camera may be used horizontally or vertically.
- 4
  Adjust the focus by turning the front of the lens. Base the focus on an estimate of the distance from the camera to the subject. There is a scale of distances on the front of the lens to guide the photographer.
- 5
  Expose the image by depressing the shutter button, usually situated on the lens structure itself, but sometimes on the top of the camera near the film advance knobs. Wind the film to the next film frame after exposure.

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