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Ensign Selfix 820 was a long-running range of folding camera made by Houghton-Butcher and their successors. The camera shoots 120 roll film and can shoot 6x9 or 6x6 depending on some panels which fold in place when loading the film. Once selected it cannot be altered for the entire roll. This gives you 12 6x6 shots or 8 6x9 shots.
There is no meter and the only way to focus is based on distance as it does not have a rangefinder. It has an Epsilon lens, which is not an excellent lens but fairly reliable. You can frame the shot in the viewfinder which is very basic but matches the actual frame lines fairly well (see a picture through the viewfinder to the left). The Epsilon 105mm lens is a solid lens, not the sharpest but for a distance focusing method it is sharp enough. It opens from f/3.8 to f/22 and 1/250sec to 1sec (and a BULB mode). In order to avoid double exposure the shutter will not fire unless the film is advanced. The shutter must be cocked on the lens after the aperture and shutter speed is selected. You can force the shutter speed dial after it is cocked but this puts a great deal of strain on the mechanism. The Good: The option to shoot 6x6 or 6x9 is selected when loading the film. You close the panels (as seen in the left hand photo) for 6x6 or open them for 6x9. This flexibility is wonderful as you can adjust the shots based on what you are shooting. The Bad: One issue I had with the Ensign Selfix is that I would forget if I advanced the roll after the last image. I would prepare for the next shot, the shutter would not fire so I would advance to the next frame only to realize that I had forgotten to cock the shutter. A wasted frame would result. Overall: This camera is mechanically simple, very compact for a medium format camera and simple to use. Even after all these years the lens is accurate however it is not a overall sharp lens. Great for some portraits or landscape shots but not the camera to use if you are looking for optimal image quality. Price & Value: I bought this for £38 (around USD 50) for a GRADE A camera and was very happy with the shape it is in. There is little that can go wrong with this camera and it is an excellent value for those getting into film shooting or those who want to step up to medium format film. This camera will not astound you in terms of image quality but it will fit in a jacket pocket and does not use batteries. If you have a light meter (or a cell phone with an app) or if you can use the sunny 16 rule and are a fair judge of distance this is all you need for some fun shooting! |
UPDATE:
As I was about to leave on a five day vacation to Salzburg Austria, my trusty Hasselblad 500cm died on me. I had been planning on taking a medium format camera with me to Salzburg and the Hasselblad was going! I purchased some film and had my Photo-book updated with my planned shots. With the sudden demise of the 500cm (I will send it for service) I was about to drop the plan of taking some medium format shots when I remembered the Ensign Selfix. Sure its lens is not the sharpest but it is almost pocket sized. In it went. Below are some of the shots I took with it.
These are "scanned" using my OMD-EM-5 with a macro lens. I had to sharpen the picture of the guard and all of them received the needed contrast and black point adjustment. All images came out very nicely however the first shot seems to come too early. Next time I will advance a bit beyond where the number "1" is seen.
I did not miss a single shot after my lessons noted above. I would advance the film right before my shot. This method made it easy to remember if I had advanced or not.
Overall this simple little camera did its job. If you are looking for amazing sharpness I would suggest another camera. That aside, the camera was very portable and easy to use. I am sure for portraits, where a bit of soft focus is a bonus, this camera would be great. For sharp architectural shots I would suggest a better lens.
As I was about to leave on a five day vacation to Salzburg Austria, my trusty Hasselblad 500cm died on me. I had been planning on taking a medium format camera with me to Salzburg and the Hasselblad was going! I purchased some film and had my Photo-book updated with my planned shots. With the sudden demise of the 500cm (I will send it for service) I was about to drop the plan of taking some medium format shots when I remembered the Ensign Selfix. Sure its lens is not the sharpest but it is almost pocket sized. In it went. Below are some of the shots I took with it.
These are "scanned" using my OMD-EM-5 with a macro lens. I had to sharpen the picture of the guard and all of them received the needed contrast and black point adjustment. All images came out very nicely however the first shot seems to come too early. Next time I will advance a bit beyond where the number "1" is seen.
I did not miss a single shot after my lessons noted above. I would advance the film right before my shot. This method made it easy to remember if I had advanced or not.
Overall this simple little camera did its job. If you are looking for amazing sharpness I would suggest another camera. That aside, the camera was very portable and easy to use. I am sure for portraits, where a bit of soft focus is a bonus, this camera would be great. For sharp architectural shots I would suggest a better lens.
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