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Bermpohl Fotomeister 9x12cm
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 3:15 pm    Post subject: Bermpohl Fotomeister 9x12cm Reply with quote
I'm so lucky about my new camera. Received it yesterday and from the moment, I unpacked the box, I fell in love with this beauty of a camera!
A beautifull made Bermpohl Fotomeister from around 1950 (according to McKeowns).
Very well made camera with beautifull wood-work and metall parts.
And it is a pretty rare one, too.
Still missing a lens, but that's not a real problem.





Last edited by exaklaus on Mon Feb 06, 2017 9:18 am; edited 2 times in total


PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 3:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Wunderschön Klaus!!! Freu mich schon auf Bilder!!
(wonderful Klaus, happy to see some pics!)


PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 3:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you!
No film cassettes, so for photos I will have to make an adapter to add my Tachihara back to it. Should be possible to do that.


PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2017 9:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
What an interesting a mixture of modern and antique. Geared fine focus at the rear is uncommon despite its usefulness.

Are the bellows fixed?


PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 9:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
danfromm wrote:
What an interesting a mixture of modern and antique. Geared fine focus at the rear is uncommon despite its usefulness.

Are the bellows fixed?


No, bellows is fixed, anyway, from 1952-56, so it can't be tooooo modern


PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 1:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Beautiful and well built looking camera. Congratulations!


PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 1:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you. Yes, it is really a nice and well-made thing.


PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2017 6:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Klaus, thanks for the reply.

The more I look at it the stranger it seems. I wonder whether there are other LF cameras with a part wood part metal front standard or with one standard partly metal and the other partly wood. I b'lieve that Bermpohls one-shot color cameras are all all wood.


PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 8:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I have to correct myself, bellows is removable within seconds.

This camera amazes me more and more!


PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 10:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
exaklaus wrote:
I have to correct myself, bellows is removable within seconds.

This camera amazes me more and more!


I could bet this was the case.
That piece that stays on the rail between the front and rear carriers is intended to mount on it a "long bellows holder". If the bellows were not easily removable it was useless and the camera is too well done to have pointless parts. Smile

Amazing camera, indeed. The build details look very Plaubel-like to me.

Last edited by dan_ on Fri Jan 20, 2017 10:37 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 10:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes, you're right. I've already wondered before, why this accessory shoe was mounted on the tripod mount

There is a picture at Collectiblend:




PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
There is something I don't understand about this camera. The rear wooden part with the ground glass opens to the left to allow the sheet film holder to be placed but I can't figure out how the sheet film holder is kept in place there with that rear door opened. Is there any detail, not seen in the photos, that does this job?

Last edited by dan_ on Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:45 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes, that is still a mystery for me, too!
Apossibilty might be, that the focussing back will be swapped completly for a film back


PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 11:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes, but in this case the back door opening would be pointless...
Another possibility is that the camera was intended to use its own, proprietary wooden sheet film holders, kept in place by parts on the holder itself, I think.


PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 12:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
One day, we will know. From now on, I will keep my eyes open!!!

This Bermpohl picture (Auction Team Cologne) hardens your theory:


PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 4:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
[quote="dan_"]
exaklaus wrote:

That piece that stays on the rail between the front and rear carriers is intended to mount on it a "long bellows holder". If the bellows were not easily removable it was useless and the camera is too well done to have pointless parts.


dan_, I'm all for solidarity among dans, but I have to disagree with you here. Calumet's CC4xx line of 4x5 cameras are essentially 4x5 Kodak Master View cameras. You can read about them here: http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/calumet_2.html, see pp. 2-9. I've had a CC401.

Fine cameras with fixed bellows that can't be extended. They have a sliding tripod mounting block. That the Bildmeister has a sliding tripod mounting block has no implications for the camera's extensibility.


PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 4:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
[quote="danfromm"]
dan_ wrote:
exaklaus wrote:

That piece that stays on the rail between the front and rear carriers is intended to mount on it a "long bellows holder". If the bellows were not easily removable it was useless and the camera is too well done to have pointless parts.


dan_, I'm all for solidarity among dans, but I have to disagree with you here. Calumet's CC4xx line of 4x5 cameras are essentially 4x5 Kodak Master View cameras. You can read about them here: http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/calumet_2.html, see pp. 2-9. I've had a CC401.

Fine cameras with fixed bellows that can't be extended. They have a sliding tripod mounting block. That the Bildmeister has a sliding tripod mounting block has no implications for the camera's extensibility.


Maybe, maybe not.
The rail has threads on each side. And beside of that, the rail can be easily changed for a longer one (if there was one as an additional accessory)


PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 5:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
Fine cameras with fixed bellows that can't be extended. They have a sliding tripod mounting block. That the Bildmeister has a sliding tripod mounting block has no implications for the camera's extensibility.


You are right that fine cameras with fixed bellows may have a sliding tripod mount block, but what intrigued me was the presence of the accessory shoe on that block. That couldn't have other use than mounting a long bellows holder on it. I can't think of other accessory to be mounted there and I don't recall any fixed bellows camera to have such an accessory shoe in that position.
As English is not my native language my way of expression probably was descriptive and a little ambiguous (at that moment i didn't recall the words "accesory shoe" Smile), sorry for that.


PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2017 8:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
dan_, thanks for the additional explanation. I think you're right. The westlicht picture from collectiblend shows the device, but not clearly, and in front of the front standard, which makes no sense. This soon-to-evaporate eBay listing http://www.ebay.es/itm/Madera-camara-bermpohl-Wooden-Camera-balgenkamera-atelier-camara-placas-de-camara-/231915361966 shows it more clearly. Fifth image.


PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 9:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Finally, I am able to add some new information about that Bermpohl Fotomeister.

Regulary, the Bermpohl is equipped with 40cm rail. But a 65cm rail could be ordered, too. And there was a special version of the 9x12 with 100cm rail and 100cm bellows.



And yes, the shoe on top of the tripod mount is for the additional bellows support


The Bermpohl used metall plate holders, the hinge of the back door are kind of flexible.




Last edited by exaklaus on Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:12 am; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 9:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Like 1 Like 1 Like 1


PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Like 1
I still don't get it how the film in the cassette is aligned with the ground glass plane for a proper focussing.


PostPosted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 12:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
It is aligned, I measured it!
When door with an inserted cassette is closed, the screen moves backwards
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