The Agfa Parat-I is a fixed-lens half-frame 35mm cameras introduced by Agfa in 1963. There are a total of three nearly visually identical cameras released in 1963 that use the Parat name with a few key differences: the Parat-I (no meter), the Paramat (fixed shutter speed, automatic aperture control), and the Optima-Parat (automatic exposure system, different lens options).
The Tower 51 is a conventional fixed lens rangefinder produced by Iloca Kamera-Werk in Hamburg, Germany as a direct variant of the Iloca Rapid-B and sold by Chicago-based department store and mail order giant Sears, Roebuck and Co. under their Tower brand. Over the years, Sears sold a wide variety of rebranded cameras produced by different manufacturers such as the Tower 39 Automatic (made by Mamiya) and the 2.8 / Easi-Load (produced by Ricoh).
The Beauty Super L (also sold as the Beauty Varicon SL) is a 35mm fixed lens rangefinder introduced by Beauty Camera K.K. in 1958. The Super L was one of the first cameras sold by Beauty after the company recovered from bankruptcy in 1957 and one of the last models produced by the company until it closed its doors for good sometime in the early to mid 1960s.
The Ferrania Ibis 34 is a viewfinder camera introduced in 1959 by Ferrania, an Italian camera manufacturer based in the village of the same name. The Ibis 34 is basically a slightly more compact version of its predecessor, the Ibis 44 which took 4x4cm exposures on 127 film as opposed to the Ibis 34âs 3x4cm images.
The Topcon Unirex is a single lens reflex camera introduced by Tokyo Kogaku in 1969. While not one of the companyâs higher end models, the Unirex still carries the high build quality associated with Topcon SLRs.
The Ansco Shur-Shot is a simple, mass-produced box camera made of wood, leatherette-wrapped cardboard, and aluminum introduced by Ansco in 1948. A combination of simple mechanics and large production numbers mean that itâs relatively easy to find a Shur-Shot in good working condition even today.
The Vest Pocket Kodak (commonly known as âVPKâ) is an early compact folding camera introduced in 1912 by Eastman Kodak. Designed to fit neatly into usersâ pockets and later heavily marketed to British, American, Australian, French, Italian, and other Allied soldiers during World War I, the Vest Pocket Kodak was one of the most successful cameras of its day, reportedly selling over two million units during its 15 year production life. The VPK is also famous for having accompanied English mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine during their fatal expedition to Mount Everest in 1924. While Malloryâs remains were discovered in 1999, Irvineâs body and camera are still missing. Once found, the hope is that the film inside Irvineâs Vest Pocket Kodak may finally tell us whether or not the two climbers had succeeded in reaching the summit nearly thirty years before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgayâs 1953 expedition.
The Kiev-10 Automat is an unusually styled 35mm SLR produced by the Arsenal Factory, one of the most well-known industrial factories in the former Soviet Union and modern day Ukraine. Due to its unconventional looks, bespoke lens system, and advanced technology, the Kiev-10 is widely regarded to be one of the most ground-breaking Soviet cameras of its day.
The Tower 39 Automatic 35 is an unusual looking fixed-lens viewfinder camera manufactured in Japan as the Mamiya Automatic 35 EEF and rebadged for sale in America under the Sears, Roebuck & Companyâs Tower brand. As one of the largest retailers in the world at the time, Sears sold a huge variety of cameras including those that it arranged to have sold under its own in-house brands.
The simply named Rolls is a viewfinder camera made of Bakeliteâan early plasticâintroduced by the Rolls Camera Mfg. Co. in 1939. This same camera was sold under a wide variety of names in many different variations, particularly by what is commonly referred to as the âChicago Cluster,â a group of Chicago-based brand names that produced so many near-identical cameras that itâs widely believed to be just one actual company.
The Bell & Howell Electric Eye 127 (also known as the Infallible Electric Eye 127) is a premium automatic exposure box camera introduced in 1958 by the Bell & Howell Company of Chicago. While better known for its motion picture cameras and projectors, Bell & Howell also manufactured several still camera models from the late â40s to the early â60s and sold rebadged Canon cameras in the 1970s.
The Minolta Autopak 500 is a stylish viewfinder camera introduced in 1966 and designed for the 126 film cassette. Rebadged and sold as the Ilford Monarch in the United Kingdom and the Revue-matic 500 in Germany, the Autopak 500 pioneered an auto exposure system capable of automatically firing the flash in low light situations, a feature that has since become standard in all cameras.
The Agfa Flexilette is an uncommon 35mm twin lens reflex camera introduced by Agfa in 1960 and only produced for about a year. Since the vast majority of twin lens reflex cameras are medium format like the Rolleicord, the Flexiletteâalong with its successor: the Optima Reflexâjoins other oddballs like the Bolsey Model C as one of the only 35mm twin lens reflex cameras ever made.
The GOMZ-LOMO Voskhod is an unconventional 35mm viewfinder camera introduced in 1964 by GOMZ shortly before it reorganized and became the Leningrad Optical-Mechanical Union, better known as LOMO. The Russian term âVoskhodâ means âascentâ or âsunrise,â an appropriate moniker since most cameras produced in the Soviet Union at the time were inelegant, utilitarian, and designed for large-scale mass production. With a relatively small production run of just a little over 59,000 units, the Voskhod is far from the average Soviet camera.
The Ansco Anscoflex is an unusual pseudo TLR camera introduced in 1954 by Ansco. The Anscoflex (and Anscoflex II) was crafted by the world-renowned French-American industrial designer Raymond Loewy, the same man whose portfolio includes the iconic Greyhound Scenicruiser bus, several steam locomotives for the Pennsylvania Railroad, various cars like the Studebaker Avanti, Sunbeam Alpine, and Hillman Minx, the interiors of the supersonic Concorde and NASAâs Skylab space station, as well as the livery for Air Force One. Small wonder he was referred to by the press as âThe Father of Industrial Design.â
The Ernemann Heag II is a multi-format folding camera introduced in 1913 by Ernemann. Founded in the German city of Dresden in 1889, the company manufactured still cameras, cinema cameras, and projection equipment. After Germany lost World War I, the Treaty of Versailles meant that the country had to pay an exorbitant amount of money in reparations (approximately 442 billion USD in todayâs economy, a vast sum they finally paid off in 2010) which left its economy in utter ruin. The German camera industry floundered, forcing Ernemann to merge with three other companies (ICA, Goerz, and Contessa-Nettel) to form Zeiss Ikon in order to stay afloat.
The Toyoca 35-S (also sold as the Strato 35) is a 35mm viewfinder camera introduced by Toyohashi Y.K. Tougodo in 1957 under the brand name Toyoca, a contraction of âToyohashiâ (where the company was based) and the English word âCamera.â The name âTougodo,â on the other hand, was in honor of one of Japanâs most famous naval heroes, Admiral Togo Heihachiro who was born in the same city as one of the companyâs founders.
The Kodak Hawkeye (also commonly sold as the âBaby Hawkeye,â âHawkeye Ace,â and âHawkeye Ace De Luxeâ in several slight variations) is a simple box camera made of leatherette-covered cardboard with a metal face. The Hawkeye was manufactured by Kodak Ltd., Londonâthe British subsidiary of Eastman Kodakâand appears to have only been available in select European markets when it was introduced in 1936.
The Univex Model AF-4 is a compact folding camera introduced by the Universal Camera Corporation of New York in 1938. Amazingly, the founders of Universal had no previous experience in the photography market but still managed to create innovative yet easily mass-produced cameras. Much of Universalâs success came from their business plan to sell cameras at very low prices and rely on the sales of their proprietary film cartridge.
The Acro Model R is a relatively obscure World War II era rangefinder camera introduced in 1940 by the Acro Scientific Products Company of Chicago. Like Spartus, Acro was part of the âChicago Cluster,â a group of Chicago-based camera brands that produced a series of nearly identical Bakelite cameras. However, unlike the vast majority of those cameras that were designed to be simple and cheaply made, the R is an upscale model for advanced amateurs.
The Ansco Memo is an unusual 35mm half-frame box camera introduced in 1927 by Ansco. The âMemoâ name has been used by Ansco and Agfa Ansco on several different 35mm models (for example the Memo II Automatic) over the years which can sometimes lead to confusion. To combat this, collectors will usually differentiate these models by including the year of introduction to avoid confusion. This particular modelâwhich was the very first camera to bear the nameâcan also be referred to as the âAnsco Memo (1927 Type).â
The Kiev-19 is a 35mm SLR produced by the Arsenal Factory, one of the oldest and most famous industrial factories in the former Soviet Union as well as modern day Ukraine. After developing their own lens system and producing several SLR models like the Kiev-10 Automat, Arsenal decided to drop it in favor of the Nikon F-mount when they produced the Kiev-17, the direct predecessor of the 19.
The Spartus 35 is the direct successor to the original Spartus 35F. After Herold bought out Spartus in 1951, it decided to update the 35 (which was modeled after the Argus A), creating the design you see above which was probably based loosely on the Kodak Pony.
The Kodak Instamatic 500 is a high-end viewfinder camera designed for the 126 film cartridge and manufactured by Kodak AGâEastman Kodakâs German branchâstarting in 1964. The 500 is arguably the most well-built and highest quality fixed-lens camera in Kodakâs expansive Instamatic line but the title of flagship model belongs to the Instamatic Reflex, an interchangeable lens SLR system camera also built by Kodak AG.
The Zeh Goldi is a small folding camera introduced by Dresdenâs Zeh-Camera-Fabrik in 1932. Designed for Kodakâs 127 film format (often called vest pocket film), the Goldi is significantly smaller than the 35mm cameras that would eventually herald the end of 127 and is actually on par with many modern-day compact digital cameras.
