Lumiere Eljy
Lumiere family and Eljy Club
Lumier Eljy
After doing the Gallus Derlux, the next should have been its ancestor, the Foth Derby. However, the French camera shelf still has some candidates, several SEM and Foca, with some orphans. So I picked up the Lumiere Eljy Club. Compared to the recent camera models I reviewed, here there is a wealth of online information here.
Lumiere was one of the cornerstones of the French photographic industry, hailing back to the late nineteenth century, with the Lumiere brothers pioneering the cinema as we know it today. While other camera makers are known for their models, the Lumiere name carries much more weight.
Looking at the camera types they made, they do not follow the conventional pattern as other early past-century types. Most companies began with folders, then Klapps and boxes, then TLR and lastly compacts and SLR. Here, there is no distinct model order, as a mix of models was produced between the late 1920s and the 1950s. The popular Eljy cameras were offered from 1937 to 1951, with only one model change. It should be noted that the company had only two stereo models at the time that stereo photography was the bees’ knees. In the 1960s, a third party bought whatever remained of the pre-war glory, banking on the Lumière name. Nonetheless, it was the end of Lumier’s camera-making era. Henceforth, they were selling cheap #126 models and 35mm compacts sourced from other entry-level manufacturers, as well as under the Ilford name. Lumix, one of their model names, was recently revived as part of Panasonic’s digital camera line, with no connection.
The Eljy models deserve a special note.
Those who know me may say that I am stubborn. I would say I am target-oriented, and in most cases, I finally get it right. Here, I gave up. The most popular camera from Lumiere was the Eljy, named after the railway terminal by the plant location, in Lyon Joinville. It was a tiny camera made between 1937 and 1950. The models were basically the same, with slightly different body and trim finishes, different maximum speeds, and different styles of folding viewers. The changes were minute and inconsistent due to the irregular supply chain during the war and post-war years. It had to be catalogued, but there is no agreement on which model is which or which specifications relate to which model, so trying to make sense of it is futile. I have looked at McKeown’s, Auer’s, Les Appareils Photographiques Francais, Kadlubek’s, and several other not-so-comprehensive guides, and there is no agreement on a naming convention. Same online. Asd a side note, I would add that it would be nice if the French (and the Japanese) guides had added an index.
What the above means is that on camdex.ca, I had a list of Eljy cameras, marked from 1 to 7. I tried to find a middle ground on the description from all sources, and document it as such, but gave up. So, now all the Eljy models are listed as ‘various models.’ Looking at the spread of selling prices, all the models fall within a close range, with hardly any outliers. For whoever wishes to have a proper list of the Eljy models, please consult the links below; the best is corsopolaris.net. There are two exceptions. The Eljy Super is the same as the commonly called type 3, and there is an elusive model, the Eljy Deuxieme Bureau, which was made for the French secret service, the MI5 equivalent.
Having said that, the serial number of my Eoljy Club is 7.863, with the accent on the “.”. I have noted that some identical cameras are referred to online as Eljy 7. Perhaps there is something in the Eljy numbering method. I will be glad for your comments.
The Eljy camera is miniature, a smallish body shadowed by the large, fully featured shutter assembly. It has a collapsible lens barrel and uses a specialized 30mm paper back roll, no perforations, for eight 24x36mm exposures.
The Eljy had evolved into the Eljy Club, still a miniature camera, a tad larger and heavier than the classic Eljy. It has a restyled body and an in-body integral viewer, rather than the folding viewer on the Eljy. The collapsible lens barrel, shutter assembly and lens were brought forward from the Eljy.
The club had two models, with the early generation slightly changed mid-run. The early 1951 model, described here, had an extinction meter and, midway through, had a frame counter added around the winder knob. The second model of 1960 had done away with the meter and added a cold accessory shoe. Both were sold under the same name.
The Eljy Club is petite, smaller than a deck of cards, and seems as light. The body and back are made of aluminum, as was the Land Rover, drawn from the aluminum surplus at the end of the war. It is very well styled, in good proportions and gentle curves. It is cute as a kitten, one of the few cameras that you may want just for its looks. It is so small and rounded that, with a large hand, it may be difficult to hold in the traditional way, so you may hold it between the thumb and index finger, at the top and bottom. I guess the designers were aware of this, so they offered an add-on pistol grip that doubled as storage for two rolls.
The first generation was offered in a variety of skin colours, which command higher prices in the collector’s market.
Other than the body restyle, the major difference between the Ejy and the Eljy Club is the addition of an extinction meter. Better described as the French take on it.
The extinction meter was popular in the mid-20th century as a cheap and simple way to estimate camera settings. It was available as an integral part of the camera or as a standalone accessory; see images below. It has an elongated front window and either the same or a regular-sized rear window.
The principle is dead simple. It shows a scale of numbers, usually 1 to 9, visible on a gradually darkened background. You aim at the subject, and use the number before it is fully darkened. Transfer the value to an exposure table, and that’s it. In all other cameras I’ve seen, the scale is in numbers. The French, as the French are wont to do, used letters in an odd text – LUMIPOSE. I don’t know what the ” Pose” means in French; Google Translate offers a slew of renditions.
Needless to say, if either meter window is dirty, the measurement will be off.
Hold the camera at about 25cm / 10’ away from your eye, watch the subject through the elongated viewer window, and call the letter before the fully darkened one. Then apply this letter to the exposure calculator on the camera’s top, select the lighting condition in the left crescent window, and use the aperture/shutter combination in the right crescent window. In short, it is an early, practical version of a ‘program’ mode, or an LV recommendation.
On my camera, the left lighting definitions are worn out, as they are on most Eljy Club images online. See the picture below on how it should be. To move the inner dial to align with the LUMIPOSE selected letter, use the hard-to-access, serrated dial at the back.
If the makers had used a numeric scale for the meter, that camera could have been used without a manual, as a numeric scale translates, well, into scale. Using meaningless letters of a meaningless phrase makes little sense.
Further, there is no indication of what film speed the calculator refers to. It is probably indicated somewhere; I didn’t dig deep enough.
The printed lighting conditions missing from my cameras are here, with an English translation:
- Mer Neige – sea, snow
- Au Soleil – sun
- A l’ombre – shade
- Sous Bois – woodlands
- Int Clair – indoors clear
- Int Sombre – indoors dark
The camera
- The top has the winder on the left, pull-up to load a spool. No rewind button, as the roll does not have a cartridge to coil back in.
- Most of the top is taken by the exposure calculator, explained above.
- At the top back are the elongated extinction meter view window, the serrated meter adjustment dial, and the viewer window, located at the extreme right. As the camera is tiny, this location is not a bother to photographers with prominent noses.
- The fully removable back releases via a slider at the bottom.
- On the back is a red lens, covered with a slide-up mask.
- Inside are the two roll bays. The left is for the take-off pivot; pull up the winder to ease it in, and the right is for the loaded spool, kept in place by a spring-loaded pin at the bottom. A pressure plate is mounted on the back, which is uncommon in paperback film cameras. A hole in the plate meets the red lens, so frame numbers are visible.
- The bottom has the mounting thread. The designers did not trust the aluminum strength, so they added a secured steel bushing to host the thread. A nice touch, typical of other aluminum-bodied cameras.
- The front gets busy:
- At the top are the viewer and the elongated meter windows. The viewer window is much undersized.
- The retractable lens barrel comes out with a slight left turn of the serrated ring flash with the body. To save your fingernail, pull the ring at the left and right, where it is proud of the recessed body, turn and pull out. Once extended, turn slightly right to lock in place. The red dot on the lens neck will line up with a dot on the body.
- Next is a black ring, with a black label with shutter speeds at the front and aperture values at the back. A fin at the back that hovers over the aperture values sets the aperture, and a serrated dial at the front of the label sets the shutter speeds. The speed is set against a hardly visible depression on the dial.
- In front of the speed dial are markings of the speed and the aperture. The speeds are on the rotating speed dial, and the aperture is on the fixed inner ring. Here, you may match the shutter/aperture pairing as recommended by the meter’s calculator. Regretably, the shutter speed markings are too faint to be useful.
- The very front dial is for focusing, from 50cm to infinity, with a long travel in between.
- A lever at 10 o’clock cocks the shutter; pull it up. A lever at 7 o’clock actuates it, push down. Sync and remote trigger ports are between the levers.
For the collector, it is a worthwhile camera, if only for the looks. It resembles the German petit models of that era, but it uses a different media. All run-of-the-mill Eljy models are widely available at a reasonable price.
| Camdex list number | 73934 |
| Brand | Lumiere |
| Model | Eljy Club 1951 |
| Manual | Butkus Pacific Rim Camera |
| Value | Eljy Club 1951 Eljy Club 1951 Crocodile Eljy Club 1951 Colours Eljy Club 1960 |
| Format | 30mm paper backed |
| Introduced | 1951 |
| AKA | |
| Country | France |
| Qty made | |
| Initial price | |
| Currency | |
| Type | Miniature |
| Body material | Metal |
| Mode | Manual |
| Weight | 285 gr, Body with lens |
| Class average weight | 305 gr, Body with lens |
| ASA range | N/A |
| Kit lens | 3.5/40 |
| Lens make | Lypar |
| Filter size | 27mm |
| Lens mount | Fixed lens, collapsible |
| Mount size | N/A |
| Aperture | |
| Shutter | Leaf |
| Shutter make | Atos |
| Trigger | On the lens barrel |
| Winder | Knob |
| Shutter cocking | Lever on lens barrel |
| Light meter | Extinction |
| Lock | No |
| Speeds | B, 1-300 |
| Mirror | N/A |
| Viewer | Viewfinder |
| DOF preview | No |
| Exposure lock | No |
| Exposure compensation | No |
| Shoe | No |
| External sync | Yes |
| Sync speed | |
| Timer | No |
| Battery, original | N/A |
| Battery, replacement | N/A |
| Battery voltage | N/A |
| Integral flash | None |
| Other | |
| More | Antique and Vintage Cameras Art Deco Cameras Club Niépce Lumière Collection Argentique Corso Polaris Dan Cuny Go high brow Nitrateville Paris Camera Museum Submin Sylvain Halgand Wikipedia |
| Service / repair links | See camerlog.com |
Missing light conditions on my camera
Extinction meter accessory
Extinction meter accessory
Limiere camera family list
