The FUNKIEST CAMERAS of PHOTOGRAPHY'S GOLDEN AGE

brought cameras to the masses in 1908and some cool gadgets tooproviding a fascinating insight into the tastes of previous generations. Not only that, but each featured camera is accompanied by rare original promotional materials, so you can see exactly what its manufacturers, or Madison Avenue, made of the latest camera in its day (and learn a bit about your grandfather's world!).

The huge growth of sales in Lomography-style plastic-lens cameras shows that interest in, and love of, cheap, fun, cameras has never been stronger. But the few models that are still manufactured are only the tip of the iceberg, with hundreds of amazing, exciting, weird and wonderful cameras widely available at yard sales, thrift stores and online. This book is the first to look at every significant people's camera launched since Kodak Box Brownie

LAURENCE HARVEY A camera expert, Laurence Harvey has spent years building his collection of historical cameras trawling auctions, yard sales, and everything in between, to amass this unique collection.

SPECIFICATION Publication December 2012 ISBN 978-1-78157-001-2 Price 9.99 Trim size h 202mm x w 152mm Extent 176pp Approx 15,000 words Illustrations 300 pictures Binding flexibound Color 4x4

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The FUNKIEST CAMERAS of PHOTOGRAPHY'S GOLDEN AGE

1: 19001949 | 010

2: 19501959 | 034 New technologies and design ingenuity meant that manufacturers could slowly move on from the old ideas. The German contribution was still based on quality engineering and function, but the Americans were producing more glamorous and aspirational products that looked to a bright, optimistic future. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Hawkeye Flash 1950-1961 (USA) Wembley Sports 1950 (UK) Revere 44 1952 (USA) Kodak Brownie 127 1953 (UK) Agilux Agiflash 1954 (UK) Adox Golf 1954 (Germany) Ross Ensign Ful-Vue 1954 (UK) Agfa Clack 1957 (Germany) Kodak Cine 1955 (USA) Philips Photoflux lightbulbs 1955 (Holland) Coronet Flashmaster 1955 (UK) Balda Baldixette 1956 (Germany) Halina Prefect 1957 (Hong Kong) Ilford Sportsman 1957 (UK) Weston Light Meter 1957 (UK) Arette 1957 (Germany) Argus C3 1958 (USA) Zeiss Movinette 8 1959 (Germany)

CONTENTS

The first half of the century saw the ponderous development of cameras that seem, to our eyes, bizarre and complicated. Most cameras were bulky, fiddly and Germanic lookingwooden cases, glass plates, different film formats, canvas bellows and brass, 19th century precision opticsall present and correct. 01 Kodak Box Brownie 1908 (USA) 02 Vest Pocket Kodak Model B 1925-1934 (UK) 03 Ensign-Houghton 20 Box camera 1927 (UK) 04 Contessa-Nettel Folding camera 1928 (Germany) 05 Kodak Brownie Junior 1934-42 (UK) 06 Ensign Midget 1934 (UK) 07 Kodak Jiffy Pocket 1935-42 (USA) 08 Zeiss Ikon Nettar Folding 1937 (Germany) 09 Purma Special 1937 (UK) 10 Eljy Lumiere 1937 (France) 11 Ensign Selfix 320 1938 (UK) 12 Flexmaster 1940-44 (USA) 13 Kodak Brownie Reflex 1946 (UK)

32 Polaroid Land camera 80B 1959 (USA) 33 Halina 35X 1959 (Hong Kong) 34 Kodak Colorsnap 35 1959-1964 (UK) 3: 19601969 | 080 The 1960s saw a real mixture of productsfrom flawless Swiss engineering to fashionable, massproduced items. The Russians were coming, the British manufacturers were disappearing fast and just around the corner was the inexorable advance of the rising sun. 36 Agfa Flexilette 1960 (Germany) 37 Brownie Starmite 1960-63 (USA) 38 Minolta 16 II 1960 (Japan) 39 Voigtlander Vito 1960 (Germany) 40 Kiev 4 1961 (Russia) 41 Empire Baby 1961 (Hong Kong) 42 Ilford Sprite 127 1962 (UK) 43 Canon Flex 1962 (Japan) 44 Bolex cine 1962 (Switzerland) 45 Cine Vue 1960s (UK) 46 LOMO Smena 8 1963 (Russia) 47 Brownie Super 27 1961-65 (USA)

48 Gevaert Gevalux 1965 (Belgium) 49 Kodak Instamatic 1965 (USA) 50 Polaroid Swinger 1965-1970 (USA) 51 Yashica Lynx 1966 (Japan) 52 Canon Dial 1968 (Japan) 4: 19701979 | 110 The 1970s saw technology reshape everything again. Fewer mechanics and more micro-processors saw single lens reflex cameras come to the fore. The turning point was in 1976 when Canon, instead of shutting down operations, launched a last-ditch attempt to conquer the amateur marketand didwith the million-selling AE-1 and their revolutionary A-series cameras. Interestingly though, the Big 5 as they became known (Canon, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus & Pentax) accounted for under 5% of global camera sales back then. 53 Canondate 1970 (Japan) 54 Fed 3 1972 (Russia) 55 Agfamatic 400 Pocket 1974 (Germany) 56 Canon AE-1 1976 (Japan) 57 Rollei Pocketline 300 1977

(Germany) 58 Agfa Optima 335 1978 (Germany) 59 Pentax 110 1978 (Japan) 60 Olympus Trip 1978 (Japan) 61 Nikon EM 1979 (Japan)

69 Kodak Advantix APS 1998 (USA) 70 Canon EOS 3 1998 (Japan) 71 LOMO LC-A 1999 (Russia)

Back for the Future | 172 5: 19801999 | 140 This period saw further diversity, with, Kodak landing yet another film format in the hope that it would take over from 35mm, Polaroid making a talking camera, Canon rising to market leader with yet more technical innovations, and even a cameras that looked like Darth Vader. People power ensured a revival of LOMOs fortunes leading up to the Millennium. 62 LOMO Lubitel TLR 1980 (Russia) 63 Canon Sureshot AF35 1981 (Japan) 64 Kodak Disk 1981 (USA) 65 Canon T80 Autofocus 1984 (Japan) 66 Konica AiBorg 1991 (Japan) 67 LOMO Smena 8M 1992 (Russia) 68 Polaroid Talking Camera 1995 (USA) A look at some of the new cameras created by the Lomography movement inspired by the designs and technologies from this book.

7 KODAK BR

Kodak BROWNIE 127

The humble Brownie 127 began its life in Kodaks Harrow factory in 1952 and was a huge hit with the public. Priced at an affordable 1 and 5 shillings, this shiny snapshot camera sold over two million units in its first two years, and it has since become a design classic. It was made of Bakelite, a hard, mouldable plastic invented by New York chemist Dr. Leo Baekeland in 1909. (Hed previously invented Velox photo paper, the patent to which was purchased by Kodak for a small fortune $750,000 which in turn enabled him to research his new plastic from a home laboratory). This model was found recently in mint condition, complete with operating instructions, box and even its Design Centre tag, more than fifty years after it was made. It was Produced in England in 1953 it had an affordable price tag of 1.25p in adjusted money. the second version with a flatter top and vertical lines on the sides and used 127 film which gave an image area of 40mm square.

014|

1950-1959

127mm lm size

KODAK BROWNIE

127

|015

OLYMPUS T

Olympus TRIP 35
The Trip so named for its intended holiday market was introduced in 1967. Popularized by David Bailey in a 70s advertising campaign, sold over 10 million units in its almost 20 year production run. It was a really good point and shoot camera and used photocells to power up rather than batteries. The Zuiko lens was extremely sharp, even at the corners, out-performing rival, more expensive equipment of the time. This model dating from 1978 was made in Japan.

35mm lm size

102|

1960-1969

OLYMPUS TRIP

35

|103

NIKON EM 3

Nikon EM 35MM
Nikon introduced the EM as a rival to the hugely successful AE-1 from Canon and the OM-10 from Olympus. It was the first model in a revised design concept to establish a compact, light weight, easy to use camera that still retained the quality of previous Nikon bodies. Compared to the brick-like weight of the earlier Nikkormat, the EM retained a metal skeleton encased in polycarbonate which made it extremely rugged but light. Although a battery-dependent electronic camera, it had a mechanical mode in case power failed. The manual is peppered with those quirky, Japanese-style drawings that give the photographer useful advice.
35mm lm size

The sample here was produced in Japan in 1979.

138|

1970-1979

NIKON EM

35MM

|139

LOMO LUBI

Lomo LUBITEL 166B

This Rolleiflex copy was made in Russia in what used to be Leningrad. Orthodo x, mass-produced with no frills, this was a solid, reliable medium format camera producing 6cm x 6cm square images. Framing the subject matter could be a little confusing as the image in the viewfinder appeared back-to-front. A fully mechanical camera with no built-in metering, this example was made in 1980 (according to the documentation). What was a cheap, knockabout product will doubtless rise in value because of the collectability of LOMO cameras.

142|

1980-1989

6cmx6cm lm size

LOMO LUBITEL

166B

|143