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1950s

Ricoh Ricohmatic 44

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Ricoh Ricohmatic 44

The Ricoh Ricohmatic 44 is a compact twin lens reflex camera designed by the Riken Optical Company (now Ricoh) for 4x4cm exposures on 127 film. Like several of its contemporaries, the Ricohmatic 44’s color schemes (aside from this example’s grey-blue on beige, the camera also came in dark grey on beige and creme on beige) deviate from the standard black and silver palette in favor of something a bit more playful to set it apart from its larger, more serious 6x6cm siblings.

Fototecnica Filmor

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Fototecnica Filmor

The Fototecnica Filmor (also sold in Australia as the Hanimex Eaglet) is a simple metal box camera debuted in 1950 by Italian manufacturer Fototecnica Torino. Not to be confused with Germany’s Vredeborch Filmor, Fototecnica had two Filmor models, the one you see here with a rotating waist-level viewfinder and another model with a tube-shaped eye-level finder much like that found on the Herco Imperial.

Carl Zeiss Jena Werra

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Carl Zeiss Jena Werra

The Carl Zeiss Jena Werra is the very first model in a line of sleek 35mm viewfinder cameras produced by VEB Carl Zeiss Jena, Zeiss Ikon’s factory in the city of Jena where the company was originally founded in 1846. After the war, Zeiss Ikon’s assets were divided alongside Germany into east and west. While the company re-established itself as Zeiss Ikon AG in the western city of Stuttgart as the East German government took control and nationalized what remained in Dresden, the factory in Jena also split with much of the assembly line being transplanted to the town of Oberkochen.

Lumière Scoutbox

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Lumière Scoutbox

The Lumière Scoutbox is the model name used by French manufacturer Lumière et Compagnie for a number of similar box cameras designed for 120 film from the early 1930s until the early 1950s. This particular version—which was introduced in 1951—is one of the last cameras to bear this name.

Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex IIa (855/16)

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Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex IIa

This Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex IIa, which was introduced in 1953, is the second of two mechanically equivalent but cosmetically different twin lens reflex cameras that share the exact same name and model number (855/16). The earlier Ikoflex IIa from 1950 featured a body which was a natural evolution of the original Ikoflex II while the later IIa has an original design that went on to become the foundation for the Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex Favorit, the final model in the storied Ikoflex family.

Bencini Comet III

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Bencini Comet III

The Bencini Comet III is an unconventional viewfinder camera built for the 127 film format introduced in 1953 by Italian manufacturer Bencini as the latest model to bear the Comet name. This camera was sold as the Bencini Akrom I in the South American market and also has another clone called, confusingly, the Comet 3 (using Arabic numerals instead of Roman) which features a white pinstriped faceplate along with an unfocusable lens. Unlike its predecessors such as the original Comet and Comet II which feature a more traditional design, the Comet III is vertically oriented which helps set it apart from other Bencinis as well as the overwhelming majority of other cameras from its day.

Zeiss Ikon Ikonette (500/24)

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Zeiss Ikon Ikonette

The Zeiss Ikon Ikonette (500/24) is an unusual, kidney-shaped 35mm viewfinder camera introduced in 1958 by Zeiss Ikon (not to be confused with Zeiss Ikon’s Ikonette (504/12) folding camera from 1929). Unlike anything Zeiss Ikon had produced either before or since, the plastic Ikonette’s primary selling points were its simplicity, price, and looks. It was also, as far as I can tell, the only Zeiss Ikon camera that was ever marketed specifically towards women, stating that their eyes will “light up” as the camera “instantly appeals to the feminine sense of beauty” and that “it’s so easy to operate, she’ll get fine pictures right from the start.”

Leica IIf

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Leica IIf

The Leica IIf is a high-end 35mm rangefinder debuted in 1951 by Ernst Leitz GmbH and produced in the German city of Wetzlar. This model is essentially identical to the Leica IIIf but without the capability of shutter speeds slower than 1/25 of a second. However, even the IIf model itself has several variants. This particular example has red flash sync numbers around the base of the shutter speed dial as opposed to black and a fastest shutter speed of 1/1000 as opposed to 1/500.

Kalimar Reflex

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Kalimar Reflex

The Kalimar Reflex (also known as the Soligor 66, Haco 66, and Fodor 66) is an unusual looking 120 format single lens reflex camera originally manufactured by Fujita Kogaku as the Fujita 66 and then rebranded by American distribution company Kalimar (and others) for sale. The Fujita 66 and its clones are heavily based on an upright medium format SLR system developed by the German designer Heinz Kilfitt who also created the Metz Mecaflex as well as the original prototype upon which Robot modeled its cameras.

Wirgin Edixa Flex

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Wirgin Edixa Flex

The Wirgin Edixa Flex is a 35mm single lens reflex camera designed by Heinz Waaske (who eventually went on to create the ground-breaking Rollei 35) and introduced in 1958 by the German manufacturer Wirgin. This camera is essentially a slightly simplified clone of the already established Wirgin Edixa Reflex with fewer shutter speed options and is one of many Wirgin cameras to utilize the Edixa name.

Certo Certo-phot

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Certo Certo-phot

The Certo Certo-phot is a simple medium format viewfinder camera debuted by Certo-Kamera-Werk in 1958. The first of Certo’s basic fixed-lens 120 models, the Certo-phot went on to become the basis for the Certina which has a new viewfinder assembly and a proper frame advance lever to replace the winding knob.

Balda Baldessa Ia

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Balda Baldessa Ia

The Balda Baldessa Ia (or Balda Baldessa 1a) is a 35mm rangefinder camera introduced by Balda Kamera-Werk in 1958, about ten years after founder Max Baldeweg fled Socialist Dresden to reestablish his company in the soon-to-be West German city of B ünde. The Baldessa Ia and its sister model the Ib are basically identical to the original Baldessa I with the addition of a coupled rangefinder. The Baldessa Ib then went a step further by also including a built-in light meter.

Wirgin Edixa

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Wirgin Edixa

The Wirgin Edixa (also known as the Wirgin Edixa I) is a 35mm viewfinder camera introduced by Wirgin in 1953. The Edixa was originally called the Wirgin Edina but the name change was forced by Eastman Kodak because “Edina” sounds too close to “Retina,” Kodak’s high-end line of German-made folding cameras. The Edixa was also rebadged by Munich-based camera dealer Obergassner and sold as the Obergassner Oga (confusingly, there were a variety of rebadged cameras—mostly manufactured by the German firms Franka and Regula—that bore the Obergassner Oga name). The Edixa is also the first model in a wide range of Edixa-branded cameras that include TLRs, subminiatures, and SLRs.

Dacora Digna

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Dacora Digna

The Dacora Digna is a medium format fixed-lens viewfinder camera introduced by Dacora-Kamerawerk in 1954. There are several variants of the Digna with different lenses ranging from the relatively high-end Enna Correlar 80mm f/2.9 to more basic offerings like my example’s Dacora 80mm f/7.7 Achromat. The Digna was also sold as the Ilford Sporti in the British market.

Bilora Bella 44

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The Bilora Bella 44 is a viewfinder camera introduced in 1958 under the brand name Bilora by Kürbi & Niggeloh, a manufacturer based in the German town of Radevormwald some 40 kilometers west of Düsseldorf. So named because it produced 4x4cm exposures, the Bella 44 was very similar to the original Bella of 1953 and the Bella 46, both of which delivered 4x6cm negatives. During its production life, the Bella 44 was also sold in the US as the Tower No. 5 and the Ansco Lancer as well as in Germany as the Foto-Quelle Revue 44.

Graflex Graphic 35

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The Graflex Graphic 35 is a 35mm rangefinder introduced in 1955 by Graflex as a replacement for the Graflex Ciro 35, the camera on which it was also heavily based. The Graphic 35 was designed in the US and earlier examples were made in Rochester although production shifted to Japan with Kowa later on. The lens and shutter were sourced from West Germany.

Hunter Gilbert

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The Hunter Gilbert is an unusual British-made box camera introduced in 1953 by R. F. Hunter, Ltd., a London distribution company that sold cameras under its own brand as well as those of other companies.

LaBelle Pal

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The LaBelle Pal is a 35mm viewfinder camera designed by Bolsey and sold by LaBelle Industries of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. The camera was actually meant to be the Bolsey Model A, which was supposed to slot in nicely as an entry model alongside the Model B (a rangefinder) and the Model C (a twin lens rangefinder). Unfortunately, the Model A never quite materialized for reasons unknown and so only exists as the Labelle Pal. As a result, this camera is fairly rare.

Tower 51

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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).

Ferrania Ibis 34

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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 34’s 3x4cm images.

Bell & Howell Electric Eye 127

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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 ’40s to the early ’60s and sold rebadged Canon cameras in the 1970s.

Ansco Anscoflex

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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 NASA’s Skylab space station, as well as the livery for Air Force One. Small wonder he was referred to by the press as “The Father of Industrial Design.”

Toyoca 35-S

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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 “Toyohashi” (where the company was based) and the English word “Camera.” The name “Tougodo,” on the other hand, was in honor of one of Japan’s most famous naval heroes, Admiral Togo Heihachiro who was born in the same city as one of the company’s founders.

Spartus 35

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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.

Welta Penti

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Yashica Rapide (three-quarter view)

The Welta Penti is a stylish compact 35mm half-frame camera introduced by VEB Welta Kamera-Werke in the Dresden suburb of Freital, East Germany for use with Agfa‘s Karat film cartridge. Sometimes referred to as the Penti 0, this particular camera is the first of several Penti models made by Welta and—after Welta merged with other manufacturers like Zeiss Ikon and Altissa to form it—Pentacon. Like the vast majority of camera manufacturers based in Dresden, Welta became a state-run company after World War II as Germany split apart.