Help with identification - French camera

Ian Grant

Ian Grant

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By chance I found my 13x18cm French Chambre de Voyage in a 1909 Hermagis catalogue.

My French is poor and rusty, I think my camera is Model II, unfortunately the image is fairly poor quality.

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I bought the camera of someone who had started to resrore it, it was totally stripped down with all the brass fittings in envelopes.

Any help translating would be appreciated.

Ian
 
Was the handle moved by the previous owner? It's strange not to be on the top as with other cameras and in the advert.
 
Nas said:
Was the handle moved by the previous owner? It's strange not to be on the top as with other cameras and in the advert.
Click to expand...

The back has key style fittings that slot into the base at different positions for different FL lenses, they are on one side as well as the base, you undo to rotate the back and bellows, which are attached to a round panel on the front standard that rotes.

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Hermagis were a large French company, but didn't export, their 1909 catalogue is nearly 150 pages. They patented a focal plane shutter in 1902.

Ian

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I found a website with much higher qualit images/scans.

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On the next page there are Chambre Noire de Thornton Pickard, Hermagis were the distrurors in France and its colonies. There are some ICA cameras, as well as Le "Loyd" Cupid and an Ensignette. I think the Loyd is a Houghton made camera, it was also sold by ICA, along ith the ICA Tudor reflex cameras, actually Butcher Pressman reflex cameras.

Ian
 
Ok. I’ve got a Hermagis brass lens. It’s quite nice :)
 
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