Ensign Midget (model 33)

This is the second tiny camera I have used. The other I used back in 2018 and vowed never to use one again. Well, here we are, but it isn’t my fault, honest guv. I acquired this camera in a swap, as I mentioned in my last post. I sent a couple of cameras to a new friend, and he sent me a surprise ‘package’. This camera was in it.

How cute is that? And my hands are tiny! I left it on my desk for a while as I wasn’t sure what to do with it. Then one quiet day, I decided to research it and try and use it.

Everything seemed to work. The bellows were light tight and would lock in position. The shutter, which had speeds of T, B, 25, 50, and 100, fired as it should. There were two choices of aperture, small f16 and large f11. There was even an empty spool inside.

It was introduced in 1934, making it not only one of the smallest but also one of the oldest cameras in my collection. For the other subminiature I tried, I said it used Bolta film. This one used E10; they are essentially the same format of 35mm in a backing paper. That meant I could recreate it. I read this website, which said you basically cut down a 120 backing paper and tape in some 35mm film, in the dark, of course.

As I had only one spool, I needed that to engage the winder. I knew from previous experience that even if I did roll the film and paper onto a spool, it would unwind inside the camera. Therefore, I could only prepare one film and not reload in the field. I decided I would tape the paper to the spool and leave the unshot film loose in the camera, protected by the paper.

This camera had no focusing mechanism so I just needed to shoot it somewhere with subjects that were probably over 3-6ft away. I wasn’t going take it on a journey as it might not work, plus I only had about six shots anyway. I took it to the local park, loaded with 100asa film. I set it at the large aperture and the speed at 1/50th.

Here are my results.