Identification - Marion Soho Camera??

[Mike Drone]

Great finds =]

 

[IanG]

Managed to acquire this beauty to add to the Marion collection

Was not sure if it was a Soho Night Reflex or not. Could only find images of one online.
It has a massive and fast Carl Zeiss 16.5/ 2 7 lens .

The Soho "Night" Reflex had a TTH Cooke 5½" f2 Series 0 lens so would have been a Quarter plate camera, in the 1926 BJP Almanac Zeiss don't list the 16.5cm f2.7 Tessar however it is fitted to two Contessa Nettel 9x12 cameras, one camer is £37-12-6 with the f2.7 Tessar an that compares to £38 for the Cooke 5½" f2 lens on its own in a similar sunken focus mount (same BJPA).

1926 is a time when fast lenses are making and impact, Ernemann sold a 9x12 camera with an f1.8 Ernostar lens, later they sold a Night reflex with a similar lens, Meyer had an f3 Anastigmat & f2 Plasmat and within a year or so an f1.5. The whole industry was in crisis which saw many mergers, the largest being the formation of Zeiss Ikon in Germany, combining Carl Zeiss, Contessa-Nettel, Goerz, Ernemann, ICA etc into Zeiss Ikon, but in the UK Ilford was taking over competitors and Marion & Co, Kershaw, Thornton Pickard, Paget etc came together as APM. My guess is in 1926/7 all the early 16.5cm f2.7 Tessars were being fitted to Zeiss made cameras.

The only images I find for a Soho Night Reflex is from an auction says it's 4.5x6cm, however as the 5½" f2 lens is for Quarter plate according to Cooke, it also ates the camera as 1906 so the listing is clearly inaccurate.

I think the use of the term Night is added by distributors/retailers when they add f2 and faster lenses, the term Speed seems to be used for f3.5 to f2.7 but these are vague advertising terms. Usually retaillers bought in cameras like these and the lenses separately as it gave greater flexibility.

The camera's a good find, the 16.5cm f2.7 Tessar is quite a sought after lens,it's one I'd like to get. I have a 165mm f6.3 & f5.3 (quite rare) so am on the look out for an f4.5, 3.5 and f2.7 (all the same FL).

Ian

 

[IanG]

Just a follow up the Contessa-Nettel "Super Speed" Deckerollo camera is reviewd in the 1926 BJPA with the f2.7 16.5cm Tessar, same year Voigtlander release their f2.5 Heliostigmat the 21cm version covers Quarter plate and 9x12. Meyer's f3 Anastigmat is listed on their Press Strut style Super Speed Outfit, there's also a review of a Meyer Super-SpeedMiniature Reflex, (4.5 x 6 cm) available with an f3 Trioplan, an f2.9 Dallmeyer Pentac, a Ross f4.5 Xpres, or a Meyer f4 Plasmat.

All these new fast lenses came after the introduction new optical glasses with higher refractive indexes by Schott Glass company owned by the Zeiss Foundation who were the major shareholder of Zeiss Ikon (the amera side) and owner of CArl Zeiss Jena.

From memory the review of the f2.7 165mm/16.5cm Tessar was in the 1927 BLP Almanac. CZJ state(d) that the f6.3 Tessar is the best for overall critical sharpness the f4.5 version was the general purpose lens, the f3.5 was essentially a Press lens getting the image was more iportant than quality and the f2.7 took that a step further. Kodak Commercial Etars were based on the CZJ f6.3 Tessar and have a well deservred reuptation, Congo (Osaka) took over the production line.

My 16.5cm f5.3 Tessar is an enigma, never adertised by CZJ (not in the Vade or is it Vague Mecum) but may have been made specifically for Eastman Kodak or Kodak Ltd.

Back then with no coatrings it was all about compromise the f2.7 Tessar and f3 Meyer Triplan had 4 internal glass surfaces, faster plasmats had 6 and that drops contrast considerably.

From memory it's Q14 the Schott optical glass used for the front elements of early fast lenses, it's soft and prone to cleaning marks and also atmospheric pollution - so I'm told by a lens desighner on another Forum. I don't doubt him as I have two lenses that look like new, one a Domiplan for an Exacta is so soft it won'f focus, another a Novar on an Ikonta is so low contrast and soft it's useless. Leitz Summar's used the same glass and very few are any good by now.

Ian

 

[Heidi Rosser]

Fantastic information Ian. I can always rely on you for the facts.
Will be cleaning up the camera tomorrow as it's a wee bit dirty. Only received it yesterday.
The lens was what attracted me to it. Plus it was slightly different my other Marions.
I did quickly look on eBay and saw a similar lens for $1500(US) which quite surprised me.
Don't want to part with it, it's a great addition to the collection.

 

[IanG]

I think $1500 for a 165mm f2.7 Tessar is rather over optimistic, I nearly bought one in a shutter for £160 ($200) last year.

Marion & Co were the early distributors, by the time that camera was made distribution was by APM, Amalgamated Photographic Manufacturers Ltd, and Marion were just a small part as plate manufacturers. APM split with Marion, Paget & RAjar coming under APEM, Amalgamated Photographic Equipment Manufacturers Ltd , and of the three film/plate/paper manufacturers Paget and Rajar were acquired by Ilford and presumably Marion ceased trading in the late 1920's, Ilford's current factory is in fact the old Rajar works in Mobberley. APM itself became Soho Ltd in 1929.

Soho Ltd was essentially the sales side of Kershaw & Son who were the actual manufacturers of the Soho Reflex and other cameras mostly for roll film.

Ian