The Heag IV is a large folding plate stereo camera developed by Heinrich Ernemann from Dresden. The camera supports 9x18cm glass plates as well as filmpacks. The abbreviation Heag stands for Heinrich Ernemann Actien Gesellschaft and was used for a series of folding cameras and stereo cameras. The Heag IV was produced between c.1908 and 1918.
The camera body is made of wood and covered with black leather. The burgundy-red leather folding covers, wooden baseplate and nikkel parts give the camera an attractive appearance. The Ernemann logo with the Goddess of light is visible on top of the body. The lens panel can shift horizontally and vertically to control the image perspective. The lenses have a serial number, but the camera doesn’t. The Heag IV supports 9 x 18cm glass plate negatives, which was the largest stereo format that Ernemann supported. The camera could also be equipped with a filmpack.
The camera’s features:
- Two Ernemann Detectiv Aplanat F6.8 lenses with serial numbers 92760 and 92761
- Five shutter speed settings from 1/100 to 1/2sec. and manual setting
- Support for horizontal and vertical shift of the lens panel
- Crosshair viewfinder on top of the camera
Part of this set is a wooden tripod with three legs, a leather case and a paper stereocard signed with Conrad A. Müller & Co., Nürnberg-Warschau. This photography wholesaler and workshop was founded in 1904. Müller had a Russian trading company and an office in Warsaw. He represented the products of Ernemann and Steinheil in Russia. The company’s headquarters was moved to Nürnberg in 1909. They probably used these kind of stereocards as promotional cards.
References
- Ernemann Catalog from 1913
- Göllner, Peter. Ernemann Cameras, 1995
- Thiele, Hartmut. Die Deutsche Photoindustrie – Wer war Wer, 2016