Box Tengor

[Ralph Turner]

I obtained one of these Zeiss boxes cheaply a while back and finally got round to trying it out a few months ago. Other than back -focus issues, some results weren't too bad.

 

[Gary R. Smith]

What film does it take?

 

[Ralph Turner]

What film does it take?

Luckily it's 120, so straightforward.

 

[Gary R. Smith]

The great thing about 120 is that I can usually finish a roll in one go.

 

[Ralph Turner]

The great thing about 120 is that I can usually finish a roll in one go.

Indeed, particularly when you've only 8 frames to play with, like here with the Tengor (or just 6 if I'm using my Ensign Carbine no12.

 

[Gary R. Smith]

when you've only 8 frames to play with

Well, I'm supposed to get 12 out of the Rollei. I only got 11 from the 1st roll. I should have 2 exposures left on the roll still in camera.

 

[Ralph Turner]

Well, I'm supposed to get 12 out of the Rollei. I only got 11 from the 1st roll. I should have 2 exposures left on the roll still in camera.

Yeah, that's a bit odd. this next roll behaves itself.

 

[Gianluca Drago]

I obtained one of these Zeiss boxes cheaply a while back and finally got round to trying it out a few months ago. Other than back -focus issues, some results weren't too bad.

Not bad at all! And the one with the tree is truely fascinating.

 

[Ralph Turner]

Not bad at all! And the one with the tree is truely fascinating.

Thanks, Gianluca. I think it was a mixture of a bit of overexposure and lens flare that produced that look. I kind of like it

 

[Ralph Turner]

Another 120 box camera I tried just out of curiosity was a Houghton-Butcher Junior Box Ensign from the early 1930s. It's about as basic as it gets. The only control is for either 'instant' or 'time'. I put a roll of Kentmere 100 in which was a mistake as it was getting a bit late in the day when most of these shots were taken but, even so, it didn't do too bad.

 

[Tony Warren]

I did a series of articles a while back on various box cameras and the Box Tengor was definitely the star attraction. I made an insert from a section of a 35mm film tub that slipped snugly into the lens mount and allowed me to use a clip on filter holder. It really did produce some stellar mages, selection added.
Mine was a late one, a 56/2, from the '50s but the model had been going since the '20s and developed from the Goerz Tengor prior to their merging with Zeiss.

 

[Ralph Turner]

I do recall seeing your article, Tony, and seeing the great results you achieved with it. It may well have been part of what spurred me on to try one. I admit I was a bit of a cheapskate with mine, getting it for about £10-12 from the 'Bay. All works ok except the focus seems to be a little off, back-focussing by a certain amount. In the shot of the fire beaters I'd set it to the 2-8m range , the beaters being reasonably in the middle of that span, but unfortunately the focus point seems to be somewhere off into the trees beyond. When switched to the 8m-infinity setting, nothing is particularly sharp, even by box standards. I certainly wasn't getting the splendid kind of results you have. Adding that filter arrangement on yours is marvellous (I wonder what folks would have made of it if Zeiss had issued a little kit like that with the camera when new..
The box I've had most luck with so far (albeit on a one roll basis) is my old Ensign 2 1/4 B, the version with the rapid rectilinear lens (I wrote a little piece about it a couple of years ago).

 

[Tony Warren]

I looked at the Ensign All Distance Box. They made some nice cameras including their roll film models. I suspect your focus problem may be a displaced or just mucky supplementary lens. Maybe worth investigating but I seem to remember it was harder to get into than the Ensign and Kodak boxes. As for the filters, I think there was a similar adapter but I doubt it sold in quantity so will be quite rare. The Tengor has an achromat lens so should be better. I think I used fast film to keep the aperture small which helps. I'll look up your articles mentioned, these cameras always impress me how they can produce such good results with very simple tech, albeit withing quite defined limits.

 

[Tony Warren]

That's a really nice Ensign Ralph and the results are much more like you would expect from the basically same lens design as your Tengor but with cemented pairs instead pf just two meniscus elements like the Beck Achromat on the 1900 Klito 3 1/4" x 4 1/14" drop plate that started me off with these devices. That produced some very fine images so with the Dallmeyer design you should get even better.

 

[Tony Warren]

I live and learn. Always thought that the Rectilinear, Achromat and double meniscus were the same but I now discover the rectilinear is different, a two element, positive and negative, paired or cemented. The Rapid Rectilinear is a four element with two paired or cemented elements mounted symmetrically. So my apologies for the misleading comments.