Sticking
with box cameras, this post will be looking at a flex camera, the Eugen Ising
Pucky I Flex Camera. A beautiful German made, twin lensed, art deco camera that
is just striking to look at.
Now
first, as with all cameras on this online museum, I will begin with the history
of the manufacturing company. This camera was made by the Metallwarenfabrik
Eugen Ising Photographic company. There is surprisingly almost no information
about this company, strange considering the Pucky cameras seem to be relatively
well known. The designs certainly caught the eye of the Bolsey Corporation in
America, who used the Ising Pucky design for their Bolsey-Flex Camera (Theo
2021).
I
found one website that has some information, but even they struggled and their
information on Ising is speculation and observations. The first thing that they
point out, that I also noticed is that the Ising company made a lot of tripods,
such as the “Original German WWII Optics & Machinegun Sand Color Tripod”
leading Camera Artisan Antonio, to believe that the Ising company started out
making camera accessories in the 1920s. It also seems that according to
SmallRig (2024), Ising still makes Tripods and possibly other camera
accessories.
It
could be that they started out only making the accessories, then went into
making cameras around the 1940s-1950s (Camera-Wiki). But as Camera Artisan
Antonio writes: “The Puck was probably the company's highest-end model, as its
other well-known models were very basic and probably sold for very little. By
the 1950s, Japan was replacing Germany's dominance of the camera industry, so
it is plausible that the market simply dried up…” forcing them to go bankrupt
or just exclusively just focus on the accessories. Or another possibility could
be that like other companies after the war that “it is likely that Germany's
weak post-war economy contributed to its demise...” (Camera Artisan Antonio).
Other
information I could find was that Ising made other equipment, such as studio
lamps. An example of this is the “Nr. 6 SPOTLIGHT / STUDIO LAMP” where it
should be noted that it shows that the Ising company first used the logo MEI,
logo that is in the same style as the ISING logo used on the camera (Auctionet
2024). It was probably changed for marketing purposes. Ising was probably
easier to remember and recognise than “Metallwarenfabrik Eugen Ising” which the
MEI stood for.
MEI Studio Lamp. Image Source: https://images.auctionet.com/thumbs/hd_item_2805433_d9fcd7c0de.jpg |
MEI logo on Studio Lamp. Image Source: https://images.auctionet.com/thumbs/hd_item_2805433_7c343f048f.jpg |
Other information about Ising that I could find is that as the name of the company (Metallwarenfabrik Eugen Ising) suggests, that it was founded by a Eugen Ising.
And that, as mentioned, the company “developed some sort of relationship with an American distributor as one of their models, the Ising Pucky, was rebranded and sold as the Bolsey Bolseyflex and the Sears Tower 120 Flash…” (Camera Artisan Antonio). And it is easy to see the resemblance to the Pucky I.
Bolseyflex. Image Source: https://mikeeckman.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Bolsey-Flex-3.jpg
Sears Tower 120 Flash. Image Source: https://collectiblend.com/Cameras/images/Sears-Roebuck-Tower-120-Flash-(early,-Ising-Pucky-I).jpg
Other
information is that it seems the Ising company had two camera series: Isis and
Puck (or Pucky) going as far back as 1948 (CollectiBlend 2024) up until 1954
when it appears the company disappeared (Camera Artisan Antonio).
And
that is all I could find. This is part of the few cameras I had trouble finding
the history of the company. The others being the Utility company in the The
Utility Falcon Model F, the Sinpo company in the Sinpo
PQ-3 Point and Shoot Film Camera and the New Taiwan Photographic Corp in
the Sounex
YN-9000 Re-usable Camera.
Now let’s have a look at the camera itself. Before the the Pucky, there was the Puck (1948), which seems to be the first camera from Ising and used 127 film (Eckman 2020), making it a mini-cam (see he The Utility Falcon Model F for more information).
Ising Puck camera. Image Source: https://mikeeckman.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Puck1-1024x678.jpg
Then
by the 1950s up until 1954, the Pucky cameras were released. The first was the
Pucky (CollectiBlend 2024), which looks and possibly works the same as the
Pucky I, except the fixed lens on the Pucky can’t be adjusted or has a focal
length setting. The Pucky also doesn’t seem to have a PC flash connector pin at
the bottom. The Pucky I also has a more improved model called the Pucky Ia,
which is the same as the Pucky one, except it has two PC flash connectors.
Ising Pucky. Image Source: https://collectiblend.com/Cameras/images/Ising-Pucky.jpg |
Ising Pucky Ia. Image Source: https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/bD0AAOSwav1kQUIr/s-l1200.jpg |
Now
for a look at the camera itself. This camera, unlike the Puck, which is a
bakelite camera (see The
Utility Falcon Model F for more information) according to Yemenis (2013),
the Pucky I is made from aluminum and is a box type camera released between
1950-1954 (Žeravica 2024).
And now starting with the front.
First
is the lens.
It
is hard to tell precisely what type of lens this is. It looks like a meniscus
lens (see KODAK
Pocket Instamatic 10 Camera), but if we look at the Bolseyflex camera,
which as mentioned is based off of the Ising Pucky I and Ia, the lenses should
be similar (if not exact because both cameras have the same max f/stop of 7.7
and focal length of 8cm), so according to Eckman (2020), the Bolsey-flex and
(by extension) the Pucky I lens is a “80mm
f/7.7 uncoated unknown elements (probably a doublet as the images are much
sharper than a meniscus).”
Now
to just explain what a doublet lens is. According to Sinoptix:
“A
doublet lens is an assembly of two lenses of different material cemented
together. Every optical material is subject to chromatic dispersion, defined by
their Vd value. This chromatic dispersion will cause scattering of a signal at
different wavelengths. The objective of manufacturing a doublet lens is two use
to “complementary” dispersing material to compensate the chromatic dispersion
and have a resulting doublet lens with identical focusing power on its whole
wavelength range. These lenses are also called: achromatic lens, meaning lens
with no chromatic dispersion, achromatic doublet is also a common name.”
Now
above the lens is the settings for the focus which ranges from 5, 10, 20 feet
to infinity. To choose a focus setting, the lens is twisted, which causes it to
extent or retract from the body as the user moves the red indicator onto the
desired number. But the setting of the focus is basically a guessing game,
because the viewfinder, above the lens, “will not reflect the set focus
distance…” (Eckman 2020).
Now
on the left side of the lens is the f/stop settings, which can be set between
7.7, 11 and 16.
On the right side is the shutter speed setting. It has two settings just like the Kodak Brownie Model 1 Camera, with the I setting the speed at (if we compare it to the Bolsey-Flex) should have a speed somewhere around 1/50 of a second. And because it is a TLR camera it uses a leaf shutter (Photography Project 2024).
Now
for the viewfinder. The viewfinder is similar to a brilliant finder (see Kodak
Brownie Model 1 Camera), some might say that this camera being a TLR (twin
lens reflex), that it isn’t, but this is wrong. For the Pucky I isn’t a real
TLR camera, but rather a Pseudo-TLR/Flex camera, meaning that it looks like a
TLR, but doesn’t work like one.
For
one a TLR uses ground glass, whereas a brilliant finder doesn’t and second, as
mentioned, when the user changes the focus, the viewfinder doesn’t show (or reflect)
what the lens is seeing, thus making it unknown if the image or object is in
focus. Now with a real TLR, when the lens focus is changed, the focus of the
view finder also changes in focus, thus showing a more accurate reflection of
what the lens is seeing (Camera-Wiki). So in other words: “this is a Psuedo TLR
camera, the top lens does nothing more than frame the photo in the camera.
There is no focusing capability when looking through the viewfinder…” (Cuny
2021).
So with that this camera has a brilliant finder, like the Kodak Brownie Model 1 Camera and the Agfa Billy Record 7.7 Pocket Camera.
Under
the lens is the PC flash connector, where an external flash is connected.
Unlike a shoe plate this is an “electrical connector used in photography
to synchronize the shutter to the flash…” (Wikipedia).
On
top of the camera…
Is
the cover for the brilliant finder, that when removed shows the well… brilliant
finder. This is where the user looks through to aim the camera. As said it is
fixed and can’t change focus, but it is at least above the lens, making it more
accurate than the Kodak
Brownie Model 1 Camera, the Agfa
Billy Record 7.7 Pocket Camera and even the KODAK
Pocket Instamatic 10 Camera!
Next
to the brilliant finder is the shutter release, which has a thread that can be
used to connect a remote cable release.
On the left side is the film advance knob that moves the film to the next frame. The knob also helps prevent any accidental double exposure, by preventing the user from pressing the shutter after a picture is taken with a locking system. The only way to use the shutter again after pressing it is to advance the film to the next frame using the knob.
On
the other side is the lock that keeps the film compartment closed.
Then on the back…
Is
the film compartment cover. On this cover is a red window used to see what
number frame of the film the user is on. This also has a cover that is moved
upwards.
Then
there is the film compartment.
This
camera, like the Kodak
Brownie Model 1 Camera, uses 120 film and shoots 6x6, but unlike the
Brownie Model 1, the film holder doesn’t need to (and can’t) be removed.
Please
see the Agfa
Clack Film camera for information on 120 film.
Lastly,
which is another win over the Brownie Model 1, is that this camera has a tripod
socket underneath (which makes sense seeing that Ising is known for its
tripods) for a stable and hands free shoot.
This
camera was quite tricky. It is strange to come across a camera that is
seemingly well known and yet also unknown. But this camera is still one of the
most eye catching and pleasing to look at. The colour and style gives of a
fantastic art deco look, but I should mention that this camera came in many different
colours as well.
Thank
you for making it to the end and as always I hope you enjoyed this as much as I
did researching it.
If you want to help this site out, please consider joining my Patreon: patreon.com/OnlineCurator
Please see the Please help this site post on this blog, for more information.
If you want to help in another way, well I have opened a shop on Displate, where you can own a piece of the Online Museum. There I will have the drawings you see at the start of every blog which you can now buy and proudly display in your home.
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List of sources:
Auctionet. 2024. 2805433.
SPOTLIGHT / STUDIO LAMP, Weichstrahler, Metallwarenfabrik Eugen Ising,
Bergneustadt Germany, first half of the 20th century. https://auctionet.com/en/2805433-stralkastare-studiolampa-weichstrahler-metallwarenfabrik-eugen-ising-bergneustadt-tyskland-1900-talets-forsta-halft/images
Camera-wiki. Ising. http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Ising#:~:text=The%20German%20manufacturer%20Eugen%20Ising,late%201940s%20and%20early%201950s.
Camera-wiki. Pseudo
TLR. http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Pseudo_TLR#:~:text=For%20a%20list%20of%20pseudo,to%20resemble%20a%20TLR%20camera.&text=Hidden%20category:,Image%20by%20Dirk%20HR%20Spennemann
Camera Artisan
Antonio. Ising. https://camarastensyantonio.weebly.com/ising.html
ColectiBlend. 2024. Ising
Cameras. https://collectiblend.com/Cameras/Ising/
Cuny, D. 2021. Bolsey-Flex
Trio Camera. https://www.dancuny.com/camera-collecting-blog/2021/5/24/bolsey-flex-trio-camera
Eckman, M. 2020. Bolsey-Flex
(1954). https://mikeeckman.com/2020/04/bolsey-flex-1954/
Eckman, M. 2020. Ising
Puck (1948). https://mikeeckman.com/2020/10/ising-puck-1948/
IMA. 2023. Original
German WWII Optics & Machinegun Sand Color Tripod by Eugen Ising -
Waffenamt Marked. https://www.ima-usa.com/products/original-german-wwii-optics-machinegun-sand-color-tripod-by-eugen-ising-waffenamt-marked?variant=31869328162885
Sinoptix. Doublet
lens: a complete guide. https://sinoptix.eu/doublet-lens-complete-guide/#:~:text=A%20doublet%20lens%20is%20a,a%20signal%20at%20different%20wavelengths.
SmallRig. 2024. Tripod
selections. https://www.smallrig.com/tag/ising-bergneustadt-tripod
Theo. 2021. Bolseyflex
– Not much flex. https://photothinking.com/2021-02-19-bolseyflex-not-much-flex/
Wikipedia. Prontor-Compur.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prontor-Compur#:~:text=A%20Prontor%2DCompur%20connection%20(also,the%20shutter%20to%20the%20flash.
Yemenis, T. 2016. THE
ANXIOUS JOURNEY - Cityscapes with a Box Camera. https://photovisionproject.blogspot.com/2016/10/cityscapes-with-box-camera.html
Žeravica. 2024. Ising
Pucky I. https://www.muzejzeravica.org/en/item/2077