Wirgin Edinex 35mm with front cell focusing

[Pete]

This is a recent Ebay find. It's a Wirgin Edinex 35mm camera. The film loads from the bottom and it has front cell focusing. As crude as it looks it has a working film frame counter. I tried dating this by comparing it to others I found on line and I think this model dates to around 1937. Not the 1950's like some websites suggest.

[philbirch]

Thats looks like a 1951 Edinex Mkll. The pre-war ones had a top plate with a little viewfinder perched on top,this one has it built into a housing and a flash shoe built in. But there is no 'zeiss type' flash socket on the shutter.

I understand that these cameras 'evolved' rather than new models being released. The design changed over time as newer bits were bolted onto older cameras in a continuous cycle. It is almost impossible to pinpoint an exact model. The body of yours looks like a Mkll but the lens/shutter looks earlier

[Pete]

Hi Phil, I checked the owners manual for a 1953 Edinex and it says there is a flash connector under the shutter. Mine has no connector which is why I think it is an earlier model. I think the "flash" shoe is just a cold shoe that would accept a range finder or some other non electric attachment. Perhaps an auxiliary viewfinder??? In any case thanks for the info. It does seem that these cameras evolved over time and one never knows wat model they actually have.

[philbirch]

The Edinex models were only made for a short period of time. After the war there were a lot of companies producing cameras. A camera 'Made in Germany' was seen as a quality instrument, as many were. But many were cheaply made and had lenses and shutters sourced from other manufacturers. There are a bewildering variety of models in everyones range and I suspect that Edina were not the only manufacturer whose models evolved.

Sorry, I used the words 'flash shoe' knowing that it was in fact an accessory shoe designed for rangefinders, viewfinders, light meters, moustache brushes as well as flash guns.

Not all cameras from that era used the PC socket (the Zeiss type as it was known then) other shutters used different connectors, and not all of them were coaxial varieties. Some had two flat pins that the leads clipped on to, some had two small holes.

I suspect your camera was designed to use powder or capsule (chemical) flashes that produced smoke and migraine.

[Stephen]

I have several of these Edixa Edinex models, and that is a post war model, but the exact years are difficult to identify.

Edixa were seized by the Nazi German Government before the war as they were a Jewish owned company. Adox took control and marketed the Edixa as Adox branded until after the war, when the family took control of the old name, but had to build a new factory.

Adox continued for a while, but in the end all parts and spares were returned to Edixa. The post war appearance was an Adox design to modernise the older Edinex.

The Post war Edixa production was very patchy, using Adox made parts as well as new parts, and Edixa were well known to make cameras on a day to day basis, with confusing variations, like the lenses, flash sync, sockets, or a coupled de-luxe rangefinder model.

The front cell lenses are not bad, just not as good as the better Schneider variants.

Some post war Edinex cameras use entirely pre-war made parts, making dating very difficult indeed. If the lens is Schneider, then the serial number gives the year of manufacture,(all dates on net).

As usual the design oddities of the Edinex are due to steering well clear of Leica and Zeiss patents.

One bad thing is that a lot of the simple mechanism the transport design uses cast Mazak zinc alloy, and it suffers from aging, turning to white zinc powder, due to lead contamination in the foundry. It can be as little as causing distortion, but the distortion is on the main spindle, leading to a jammed film transport.

The Adox versions do not seem to suffer the same issue, and as it is only contamination, you also get good Edixa models, dependent on the quality of the Mazak metal.

With a better lens version, the overall results are good.

Stephen.

[philbirch]

Thanks for this info Stephen.

[philbirch]

I've just got a Wirgin Edinex, here are a couple of snaps:

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obviously a later version than yours. 

A little rusty inside but the shutter is responding to lighter fuel. I may even run a film thru it!