Ensign Selfix Snapper

When people talk about how nice the Ensign Selfix cameras are they probably aren't including this one in the mix. It's not that this camera isn't nice. It's just that the likes of the Selfix 8-20, 12-20, 16-20 etc are highly capable cameras with manual settings that allow them to shoot in a variety of lighting conditions. The Selfix Snapper meanwhile can be viewed as the Fisher Price, "My First Selfix" model. Its controls are incredibly basic, but then the clue was in the name. It's a snapshot camera.

So what features does it have? Well, it shoots eight 6x9 frames on 620 film. It was launched c.1953 and I must say it's a really good looking camera. Its cast metal body has a grey crackle-finish paint and its lens plate is styled like a flower surrounding the simple meniscus lens. Focus distances are marked in yards/metres and the shutter has one instantaneous speed and the option of a bulb mode. There are a choice of two apertures: normal and bright, and the shutter is synchronised for flash. There is an accessory shoe above the viewfinder.

This is actually a later model of Selfix Snapper. The earlier model had slightly different styling. An advert for the early model states:

Your film costs just the same whether your camera gives you a full roll of good pictures or a succession of failures. With this Snapper camera you can be sure of getting eight out of eight first class, full-size snapshots which need no further enlargement. The Snapper costs no more than any ordinary make of camera and you will have the satisfaction of knowing that it is as good as Ross Optical design and Ensign craftsmanship can make it. 

It is a delightfully simple camera to use and it has a flash synchronised shutter and first class focusing lens.

The original price of this camera was £5. 10. 8, making it quite a pricey snapshot camera. The Pocket 20, one of Ensign's snapshot cameras from the early 1930s cost 25/6.