Merten Merit Box Camera

My Merten Merit Box camera.

We're three weeks into February, which I've deemed Box Camera Month for my blog posts. I purchased this camera about five years ago at a camera show I attended in Kent, WA, a suburb of Seattle. This show, which is a gathering of camera enthusiasts and collectors, is coming up again in early April. It's a great opportunity to see a wide variety of vintage cameras and photography equipment. If you're in the Seattle or Portland area, please stop in. I plan on having another few tables to sell off some of my collection.

 Getting back to the camera of the week, I had previously owned the Merten Merit Box camera many years ago. Still, it wasn't nearly as good of condition as this one. It was missing one of the outer viewfinders, and there were many chips in the Bakelite, so I was pleased to see this example at the Kent camera show, and it was at a very reasonable price. One of the things that initially drew me to the camera was the color of the camera. It has a dark brown color with a smooth texture throughout the camera, with the exception of the faceplate, which has a pebble finish to the Bakelite.

 The other nice thing about this camera is that Merten made two different models. The one I had previously was a 6x4.5cm format camera on 127 film. This camera is a rare version as it takes 120 films and produces a 6x9cm format image, so the negative is larger, and the film type is a lot easier to purchase. The other nice thing about this camera was the handle was intact. Due to how the camera is built, I have seen many examples where the strap is broken or missing. This camera has very few chips in the Bakelite, and the strap is intact and in overall great condition. The shutter also works.

 Since all the stars are aligned with a 6x9cm format camera and a working shutter, the camera takes 120 film. I figured it was time for me to take the camera off the shelf, load film into the camera, dust off and clean the lens, and take a walk around the neighborhood to take photos with this wonderful photo-making machine.

The Company:

French ad for Merit Box

In 1906, the Merten brothers Ernst, August, and Emil founded the Gebrüder Merten Gummersbach (GMG) company in Windhagen-Gummersbach, Germany. They started manufacturing electronic installation components. In 1926, they focused their attention on manufacturing plugs and sockets, which is where their business grew.

 In the early 1930s, Mertens used their Bakelite presses for various purposes, such as producing equipment for laboratories and, yes, in 1933, even producing a series of cameras for the rapidly growing photographic market. These were the only cameras produced by Mertens, and they turned their focus back to the electronic field.

 By 1985, Mertens had grown to the point where they were producing electronic accessories items for the commercial trade, and by the year 2000, intelligent devices were added to their portfolio of electronic products. Merten's products for smart buildings are available in more than 130 countries, where they produce electronic products for residential buildings, offices, public buildings, hotels, schools, hospitals, and businesses. 100 years after they started their business, Schneider Electronics purchased Mertens in 2006.

My Camera:

My Merten Merit Box Camera is 4.5" tall, including the leather strap, 3.5" wide with the winding knob 5.5" deep from the front of the lens to the back of the camera. The camera weighs 1 lb, 1.6 oz without film loaded into the camera. The camera is a typical box camera with two different viewfinders, one for vertical images on top of the camera and one for horizontal images on the right side. 

The Merit Box camera has a Rodenstock lens, around 80mm, and the aperture is F11. There are two positions for the shutter, which is set by a toggle arm below the lens, either a line for instant photos or a round circle setting for timed exposures. There is an option to screw in either a self-timer or cable release just above the shutter release button, which is located just to the right of the lens as you're preparing to take a photo. There is also a sliding bar on top of the camera, which allows for three different aperture settings. When the sliding bar is in the lowest position, the aperture is F11. Then, slide the bar up to the following setting, F16, and all the way to the top would be F22.

On the back of the camera is the name of the camera embossed into the Bakelite, the red window to tell the photographer which frame they are on, Germany, Film B-2, which is an Agfa reference to 120-size film, and finally, the film format 6:9.

 One of the very unique features of the camera other than the beautiful dark brown color is the interwoven strap on top of the camera. The strap or top handle doesn't come off. Instead, it has two interlooped sections that allow the strap to lengthen as you take the front off the back of the camera to load film. This makes it more difficult to load the film as you need to deal with both the front of the camera and the rear when you load film into it. It's not difficult to deal with, but at the same time, it's more than most people are used to when loading a simple box camera, mainly used for the less professional photographer.

There are two locking mechanisms on each side of the camera to load the camera. Rotate the knobs counterclockwise to unlock the back from the front. Then, you'll need to slide the strap apart to allow the camera's front and back to be removed from each other. On my camera, the strap holds the two pieces together as the strap is somewhat tight and stiff. Once you slide the two strap pieces apart, the front and rear of the camera open easily; from there, you can load the film into the camera.

 Once I put a roll of film into the camera, I attached the front to the back of the camera. I turned the locking knobs clockwise to lock the two together and slid the strap back to the shorter position so it would hold the front and the back together a bit better. It could quickly be done if I needed to make the handle a bit longer to hold the strap as I used the camera.

The one thing I noticed when I went to load the film into the camera was the winding mechanism didn't engage with the film spool very well. I needed to press the winding knob, and I was turning the knob to advance the film. The flat end of the winding mechanism that fits into the spool didn't seem long or thick enough to fit tightly into the film spool. The whole winding mechanism seemed very wobbly. I did try t tighten the screw, but that didn't help. The camera is almost 100 years old (92 years), and I'm guessing that it's just worn a bit, but I doubt it's been used very much because the strap is in great condition and still intact.

 

My Results:

Now that I had wrestled with the strap and held both the front and rear of the camera in my lap to load the camera with a roll of 120 films, it was time to take a walk through the neighborhood to see the results from this beautiful brown bakelite camera from the early 1930s. Here are some of the results from my walk.

Conclusion:

The one thing that I struggle with when using these simple box cameras is the close distance required to get a somewhat sharp image. Since it was somewhat sunny outside, I figured that using the sunny 16 rule would be my rule of thumb for exposures. 

 For those unfamiliar with the Sunny 16 rule, you use the shutter speed closest to the ASA, or as it's known now, ISO in your camera. (Yes, I'm old school.) If it's sunny outside, you use f16. I had ASA 125 film in the camera and figured the shutter speed was close to that, so I put the aperture setting in the middle setting for my exposures outside.

 I photographed my daughter and her dog, Bean, initially about 4 to 5 feet away. Then I took a step back, and the photo still was out of focus, as were many of the images I took between 4-6 feet from the subject. The one image that is nice and sharp is the more scenic photo of one of the neighbors' houses, which turned out very well. My guess is the best minimum distance is 8-10 feet away, looking at some of the results I achieved.

 Thank you for taking a few minutes from your day to look over this unique and simple camera from about a century ago. It was fun to take it off the shelf and use it as it was intended. The results are the best, and my guess is that due to several different reasons, the Merten Merit Box camera wasn't a huge seller during its time.

 Until next week, please be safe.

KAPSA Box Camera

My Kapsa camera

On my blog, February is a special time for vintage camera enthusiasts like us-it's Box Camera Month, a time to celebrate and explore the unique charm of these classic cameras.

 Looking through my collection, I noticed I had several different box or box-style cameras that I wanted to use and write about. So, in the middle of January, I thought I should spend the month of February using and writing about the four box cameras I was thinking about.

 The first camera that I noticed was the Kapsa camera. It's been on my shelf for a couple of years, and I purchased it in a large group of cameras from an online auction. At first, I didn't think too much of the camera as the items within the group I was primarily interested in were a couple of Olympus Pen F half-frame cameras. As I was unboxing and unwrapping the items I had purchased, the Kapsa was a camera that drew my attention due to the heavy Bakelite material. The name was one that I wasn't aware of.

D. F. Vasconcellos (DFV) Logo

 After doing some research on the camera after the unwrapping, I found out that the camera is rare in North America because it was made and sold in Brazil. I thought that was unusual and dug a bit more into the camera; it also comes in an aqua-blue color, which makes me want to get that version even more because of my love for colored and unusual cameras. I found even more interesting information when I did more digging into the camera and the company that manufactured the camera.

The Company.

D. F. Vasconcellos (DFV) manufactured the Kapsa camera in the 1950s, but the company, which was founded in 1941 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, began manufacturing precision optical instruments, like surgical microscopes and other items for the Brazilian military.

 In the 1950s, D. F. Vasconcellos diversified into consumer items like binoculars, magnifying glasses, and loupes. This was also the time they ventured into camera manufacturing, a move that filled a growing market for photography in Brazil. 

Brazilian ad for Kapsa camera.

 My guess is that companies like Kodak and Agfa, which were making simple cameras and importing them into Brazil, were somewhat expensive for the average Brazilian consumer. Since D. F. Vasconcellos was getting into the consumer market, they decided to manufacture an inexpensive, well-made, but simple camera for the Brazilian market. 

Getting into the camera manufacturing business must have been successful because they made cameras other than the Kapsa for the Brazilian market. They had a total of six cameras in their lineup. Some of the different cameras D. F. Vasconcellos made are very similar to some of the cameras made by Ansco. One camera made by D. F. Vasconcellos was the Zina 25, which is a copy of the Ansco Cadet II. There are thoughts that some of the cameras made by D. F. Vasconcellos were from older Ansco molds. This makes sense, as other cameras within their lineup have similarities to the Ansco line.

 D. F. Vasconcellos continued to manufacture cameras into the mid-1960s. Still, soon after, they shut down their camera manufacturing to concentrate on the items they are known for today. According to their website, D. F. Vasconcellos manufactures surgical microscopes and other specialized equipment used in the Ophthalmology, Veterinary, Otorhinolaryngology, and Dental fields.

My Camera:

My Kapsa camera is the size of many standard box-style cameras from the 1950s. It's 4.5" tall, including the strap lug, 3.75" wide, including the winding knob, 4.75" deep, and weighs 1lb. 2.6 oz and is made of a thicker Bakelite material with a pebble finish over the camera body. The Kapsa camera has a 110mm F11 Vascromat lens. Similar to many other box-style cameras, there are two viewfinders on the camera. The viewfinder on the top of the camera is for vertical format photos, and the second one on the side of the camera is for horizontal format photos.

There are a couple of interesting items within this camera. The first is the controls on the right side of the camera as you hold it, which adds a bit of complexity to the camera. On top is the shutter settings for "I," which stands for instant and has a shutter speed of around 1/100 sec. The other setting is "T" for times exposure. Next to the shutter release is "Trava" or Lock, so the shutter doesn't accidentally trigger while transporting the camera. Under that is the ability to set three different apertures, F11, F16, or F22, and along the bottom is the focus control, which is in meters. There are also flash contacts on the camera for their bulb flash gun, which you can see in the posted ads, but something I don't have.

Camera controls on the Kapsa camera

To open the camera, the locking/unlocking lever is on the left side. This lever allows you to open the camera to load/unload the film. You turn the dial to "ABRE" to open the camera or "FECHA" to lock the camera. Once the camera is unlocked, the right side of the camera pulls away from the camera body so you can load or unload the film.

There are two "wings" on the camera that convert the camera from a 6x9 format camera to a 6x4.5 format camera. I liked this feature as it allows the photographer to get twice as many photos from their roll of film. If you're in the 6x9 format with the "wings" retracted, you'll get eight pictures on the roll, but by flipping the "wings" over the film opening, you'll get 16. The one thing that you'll need to remember, and this alludes to me at times when I do this, is it also changes the format of the image. If you're in the 6x9 format, the camera is in the vertical format when holding the camera vertically. Once you change to the 6x45 format, the format of the image is horizontal even though you're holding the camera vertically. It's just something you need to be conscious of when changing formats.

Many of the articles I read about the Kapsa camera state that it can use either 120 or 620 film. However, my camera is only set up for 120-size film, as the film reel holders have larger openings for 120-size film, not the smaller openings for 620-size film reels.

 My Kapsa camera has a couple of issues. On the back of the camera, there should be two red windows for the two formats the camera can use. The first issue is one of the red windows on the back of the camera, which reads the frame number when advancing the film, is missing.  It's the right window that's missing, and it is used for the 6x4.5 format photos. That's not a deal breaker when it comes to using the camera. I just taped a small piece of foil over the window since I didn't have red acrylic to glue into the camera. Also, there is a small ship in the Bakelite close to the seam where the film insert fits into the camera body, so I added a small piece of black tape when shooting. My camera is also missing the strap.

 

My Results:

Since my camera shoots 120 film, I loaded a roll of Ilford FP4 Plus, 125 ISO film into the camera with the "wings" back so I was shooting 6x9 format images. The plastic winding knob is on the right side of the camera, just behind the horizontal viewfinder. I wound the film in the first frame, walked through the neighborhood, and snapped a few images.

 Once I was done, I got out the dark bag and processing equipment, loaded the reel with the film, and processed it. Here are some of the results. 

Conclusion:

Shooting a box camera brought back some great memories from childhood. I still enjoy holding the camera in a lower position and looking through the waist-level finder to frame the image. Maybe that's why I enjoy medium-format cameras so much; it's the tactile feel of using this mechanical instrument to capture memories that I'm fascinated with.

 The camera was fun to use, and the images are good, especially considering what many people feel is a toy. But the world took millions of images with this style of camera.

 Thank you for taking a few minutes from your busy day to read about this fun and somewhat rare camera from Brazil. Now, I will be on the hunt for the blue model, preferably in better condition than the camera I have.

 Until next week, please be safe.

SportShot Senior Twenty Camera

One of the first memories I have of the SportShot Senior Twenty camera was looking through McKeown's camera (bible), collecting cameras, and noticing the odd shape of the camera as I thumbed through the pages. Then, upon doing a little more digging into what made this camera special to me, a company in Australia made it, and it only existed for a couple of years. These are the cameras I desire, and these it's these items separate cameras in my collection. 

My ACMA Sport Shot Senior Twenty camera.

 Whenever I travel alone for business or when my wife and I travel internationally, I always try to find the local flea market to see if I can find items that are rare in my part of the world. There are thousands of extremely popular Kodak box-style cameras, whether made from cardboard and leatherette covered or the bakelite cameras you see in every corner of the world. When I first started collecting, I would snatch up any camera because they were a "camera." But as time goes on and I see more of the odd and unusual items, I increasingly appreciate them.

I traded the SportShot Senior Twenty camera about a year ago for some items I had from a dealer who frequents the US occasionally from Australia. The trade happened at a camera show near to me. I got the SportShot Senior Twenty camera. I picked up a few other cameras from Australia, like the red Swiftshot and the Lexa box camera with an excellent metal faceplate. I believe he was happy getting tradeable items he could return to Australia, as it was hard to find items here in the United States.

The Company:

The SportShot Senior Twenty camera maker was the very short-lived ACMA, which stands for Australasian Camera Manufacturers Australia. They were based in Sydney, NSW, Australia, and existed from 1948 to 1950. I've looked at many different commerce sites in Australia and cannot find anything new about the ACMA company. They were one of Australia's only post-WWII camera manufacturers producing cameras. Inside the logo on the camera where the wording Australasian Camera Manufacturers Australia is located, the words British Make are there. There must have been British backing in the company to produce the cameras. 

My best guess is that while the camera is somewhat awkward to hold and use, it wasn't very popular, and sales never caught on, so the company folded, and what was made are the only examples available today.

 Since a large part of my collection is colored cameras or cameras other than black, I like the fact that this camera came in red and green as well and had a matching plastic strap to match the camera itself. These are now on my radar for future purchases. 

My Camera:

The SportShot Senior Twenty camera is triangular or trapezoidal in shape with what appear to be wings in the back to hold onto when taking a photo. The camera measures 5.5" wide in the back and 2.25" in the front. The camera is 4.5" deep, including the lens, and is 3.5" tall with the viewfinder closed but including the winding knob. The camera weighs 13.2 oz without the strap, which I don't have for this camera. The camera has a single red window on the back and shoots 6x9 format, producing eight exposures on either 120 or 620 film.

The camera is comprised of two separate parts. The top comes off with an effortless latch on the back that is somewhat spring tensioned with a hole that fits into a small knob holding the top to the bottom of the camera. On the top portion of the Sport Shot Twenty camera is also a pop-up viewfinder, along with a very odd winding knob. The winding portion of the film advance that fits into the film roll has a triangular shape; it will fit both 120 and 620 films. 

 Because the camera can shoot both 120 and 620 films, the useability is a bit more interesting as this opens the camera's film up to different types. The downside of having the winding portion shaped as it is is that the film advance is more difficult to use, which is what I experienced when I shot a roll of film through the camera. On the top of the camera adjacent to the film advance knob is stamped ACMA S20.

The camera loading is also not the easiest thing to do. Once you have the top off, you can take the empty roll from the right side and put t on the left side where the advance knob is. When loading the film, the tricky part was the channel it slid into to keep it flat for exposure. You can't just put in the roll, slide it over the shutter, and attach it to the empty spool like you do on the majority of cameras. The SportShot Senior Twenty has a thin slot the film needs to go into to keep the film flat, as you can see in the photos.

To load the film, I put the leader into the take-up spool and rolled out a bit of film to slide it into the thin channel. It took me a few times to get it in because the channel was so thin the film paper packing would crinkle and fold a bit, along with the curvature of the channel. It wasn't an easy load, but eventually, It slid in, and I got the camera loaded. How you load the camera was another factor against it when trying to sell to the masses. You don't want to make things more complicated than they need to be.

Note the thin slot film needs to be slid into to load film.

When I went to shoot the film, I loaded it into the camera, and I went to clean the lens. When cleaning it, one of the sides pressed in. I thought, "This wouldn't work with one side of the lens, not in the right position." I turned the lens, and it unscrewed from the camera body. I pressed the lens back into place, then re-screwed it back onto the camera.

 There are only two settings for the shutter. "T" for time, where the shutter stays open as long as you keep the shutter button depressed, and "I" for an instant for everyday shooting. The lens is a 13.5cm or 135mm lenticular lens f3.5 aperture. The lever above the lens is the shutter release, and you press it down towards the lens to take the photos. The viewfinder is a simple pop-up style and closes when not in use. There are no other settings to choose a different aperture, which makes this an extremely simple-to-operate camera.

My Results:

After struggling to load the camera, I had put a roll of Ilford FP-4 in the camera and walked out in front of my house to see how it did, and here's the results.

Conclusion:

Other than struggling to load the film into the camera, along with advancing the film. Due to the shape of the advanced knob that fits into the take-up spool, it didn't grab very well, and there were several times when the knob turned, and the film didn't move, but as long as I took my time, it did advance. Maybe it would do better with 620 film since the slot on the spool is thinner, and the advance knob would fit and hold into the spool better. I'm not going to say the camera was hard to use, but it wasn't the easiest, and I can understand why people would get frustrated using it. None of the images are sharp, but some are better than others. This may have been caused by removing the lens.

 Thank you for taking a few minutes from your day to look over this review. I realize it's not a sophisticated camera, but it definitely has an unusual shape.

 I have an odd camera set for next week's post and hope to hear your thoughts on it or other cameras I've written about.

 Until next week, please be safe.