Ensign Selfix 2-20

Selfix 220 was the name received by a series of medium format folding cameras, manufactured in England by Ensign. These are dual format bellows cameras, capable of providing either 12 6x6 or 16 6x4.5 pictures per roll of 120, by means of pivoting masks - a clever system that ensures the mask is always present on the camera and not lost. An sliding mask is also present on the finder for aiding with composition and focus.

It was a pretty advanced design for its era, with a chromed top cover that was so ubiquituous until a decade later. The camera also features an automatic frame counter, that can be reversed to fit the format of the negative and double exposure prevention mechanism. There is a coupled rangefinder in the AutoRange model, and focusing is achieved by means of an sliding lever at the front of the camera, inside the door under lens and shutter unit. The frame counter is probably the nicest feature, but also a bit annoying for beginners: when film is loaded, the first exposure is positioned using the red window, and from then on this window can remain closed and rely on the rotating frame counter for film advance.

Lenses that can be found on these cameras are most usually an Ensar 75mm F4.5 made by Ensign itself, sometimes with a Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 75mm F2.8. It is possible that Houghtons also used Compur shutters for some time due to lack of materials that would have allowed Ensign to mount their own shutters, however production was halted after about two years, in 1940. When production restarted, shutter was an Epsilon, although some Prontor shutters were also used on early units, until this model was dropped of production by 1949.

Two main variations exist: the Ensign Selfix 2-20 was a viewfinder camera with unit focusing (moving the shutter and lens block at the same time), while the Ensign Selfix 2-20 AutoRange was, as mentioned, the rangefinder version of this model.

Prices when new, ranging from £3/15/0 and £10/17/6d depending on the shutter/lens combination of the camera, go to show that even the basic models were somehow luxury items. A mid-range combination, priced at £4/10/0, corresponds approximately to some £623 from 2012, something close to $1,000.

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