Tracing 17.5mm practices in Germany (1902–1908)

In 1903 Heinrich Ernemann of Dresden launched the marketing of his ‘Kino’ camera for 17.5 mm film, Germany’s first small-gauge camera made exclusively for amateur use. This article examines 17.5 mm practices during 1903-1908 and provides evidence that the scope of this format went far beyond amateur circles, being taken up in science and education, as well as in the making of ‘pikante’ films (erotic material for men). On the basis of documents and films discovered only recently, the role of 17.5 mm film and the Ernemann ‘Kino’ has to be considered in a broader context, that which is commonly referred to as the ‘emergence of cinema’.