Ernemann Kino Model E
c. 1917 Ernemann Kino Model E
The Kino Model E was manufactured by Ernemann Cameras in Dresden, Germany beginning in 1917.. The model E cinematographic camera was renowned throughout the world for its build quality and its features. The Model E was produced from 1917-1926
This example comes in an exceptional Teak housing and was one of the earliest models produced around 1917.
Ernemann’s Kino Model E is their 5th 35mm Kino model following the Kino models A, B, C, CII, and D. It is a beautiful and compact camera with a significantly better build quality than any of their previous models.
The wooden body is an exterior covering. The cameras film transport and movement, film gate, and drive shafts are all contained within an aluminum and metal frame which is enclosed by the wood body panels. The coaxial 120m film magazines are mounted on either side of the aluminum chassis behind the left and right side doors.
The front panel is hinged and houses the shutter mechanism inside its lid. Two brass knobs on the exterior face of the body are used to unlock the hinged front and the other to unlock the shutter mechanism. The camera has a fold-out Newton side finder and rear eyelet in addition to a rear thru-the-film magnified eyepiece for critical focusing on the film.
The rear of the camera features a footage counter dial that measures footage used in meters and frames, a tachometer or crank speed indicator marked at 16fps and 24fps, a spirit level and a film punch. The cameras front panel must be in the fully up position to open the two side panels for access to the film magazines and reveal the very impressive movement.
Ernemann’s Kino Model E is a 35mm Profesional Motion Picture Camera that was very popular into the 1920’s. But its not unique in the market, it is actually an exact duplicate of an earlier Andre Debrie model called the Le Parvo which was created and produced in France starting in 1908.
The hand-cranked Le Parvo was at one time the most popular European made camera. Even in the early 1920's, the Le Parvo was the most used camera in the world. Read more about the le Parvo line here.
The Kino E is just one example of a manufacture duplicating or licensing the Andre Debrie line, it was also used by another German company, Askania Werke, Berlin.
Ernemann has also used other manufactures designs before with their earlier Kino I and Kino II 17.5mm cameras.
Andre Debrie le Parvo
In 1908, Joseph Debrie developed the Le Parvo [meaning 'compact' or of small dimension] camera, described at the time to be a well built and reliable, compact camera with advanced features. The original cameras were constructed from a aluminum and metal frame housing two coaxial film magazines and a unique movement. The exterior was finished in a polished hardwood, but later the Le Parvo series also offered metal and other materials like Bakelite for the exterior covering.
Geared Focus and Iris scale
The camera has a reverse gear, Newton finder and direct control in the Image window. The lens has a threaded mount, with focusing by means of a worm gear, which offers various focus scales on a rotating gear to aid in quick lens changes.
Interior aluminum frame and movement.
The original lens is a Zeiss Tessar 50mm f3.5 No. 271174
In 1921 the Model E sold for roughly ten times more than the Model C II produced the same year. A 1928 German catalog lists the Model E for 2030.RM and the Model A for 550.RM
The Model E was a premium camera…one of the best cameras of its era.
