In 1903 Heinrich Ernemann launched the marketing for his ‘Kino’ camera for 17.5 mm motion picture film, It was touted as Germany’s first small-gauge camera made exclusively for amateur use.

Within five years, the Erneman line was expanded to include the Kino II an upgraded version of the original Kino and the Normal Kino Model A, a full size wood body hand cranked 35mm camera. In 1909 Heinrich Ernemann asked his son Alexander to return from the U.S. and join Ernemann as technical director and to eventually lead the Cinema division. Ernemann became one of the premiere manufactures of cinema cameras during this period, producing multiple camera and projector models in both 17.5mm and 35mm formats.

In 1904, when the Kino II was released, competition for the amateur market was intensifying. Both cost and size were critical to success, and on the size front the Kino II was leader of the pact. This compact camera rivals the tiny size of modern “prosumer” cameras today…but the Kino line was introduced nearly 120 years ago…when the film industry was still in its infancy.

The 17.5mm centrally perforated film, was the same format used in the earlier Biokam which produced an image size of 16 x 10 mm. The ergonomics were surprisingly good for such a small camera, and it was easy to shoot steady hand held footage with the built-in finder. It even included a spring wound motor in addition to the hand crank, which was unusual for this era. Additionally, the camera also functioned as a projector and Ernemann sold films as a companion to the set.

The tiny build is really a marvel to look at, it’s like a shrunk down Pathe Studio camera that literally fits in the palm of your hand. This is one of my favorite cameras.

But was it Germany’s first small-gauge camera made exclusively for amateur use?

A few years earlier a small company in Dresden invented very similar models and coined the Kino name. It was entrepreneur and inventor Fridolin Kretzschmar who created and sold a 17.5mm film system, the Kretzschmar Kinematograph starting in 1902.

In 1903 Kretzchmar followed up with an improved model of the Kretzschmar-Kinematograph, which was equivalent to the ‘Kino II’. Ernemann launched the Kino II in 1904, and although they were essentially the same cameras, Kretzschmar intended his cameras for a more prosumer market rather than home entertainment. Both Kretzschmar machines were sold with a lamphouse to convert the camera into a projector and a printing box to produce positive film in a reversal process, as were the Ernemann models.

We dont know for sure exactly how Ernemann came to produce nearly identical models of the two Kretzschmar cameras, the most likely reason is that the patients were purchased from Kretzschmar prior to shutting down opeartions. But this won’t be the last time Ernemann uses another makers designs. In 1917, they copied the design of a French camera from maker Andre Debrie. You can read about their Le Parvo here, or its clone, the Ernemann Kino Model E here.

Kretzschmar Kinematograph

Ernemann Kino I

One year later in 1903 Ernemann introduced their Kino model. The Kino camera listed for 150DM in their 1903 catalog, touted as the “Latest achievement of the photographic industry” on the front page.

The positive film is now used to show the living photograph, either in the examination apparatus, in which the images appear enlarged 2 to 3 times when viewed through a magnifying glass, or by means of a projection lamp with acetylene gas lighting, etc., which illuminates the small images Enlarged 75 - 100 times. With stronger light sources, the images can be enlarged up to approx. 6 meters.

The cassettes loaded in the darkroom can be attached to and removed from the apparatus in daylight, any number of cassettes can be used.

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1903 Ernemann Catalog- Click for larger images

Ernemann Kino II No. 139 Image Gallery: