Ferrania Galileo Condor Junior As discussed in my earlier Italian camera notes, the Italian photographic industry had woken up in the post-war years, with a host of start-ups having no prior foothold in the trade. The camera described her, part of the Condor line, was made by Officine Galileo, a well-established manufacturer situated in a Florence suburb. I got the...

SEDE Kelvin Major After working on the Sirio Elettra and a few other Italian cameras, I now proceed with the Kelvin camera, made by S.E.D.E., or SEDE for convenience. As mentioned before, the Italian camera industry was not as grand as those of Germany, the Soviet Union, or Japan, and lasted for just over a few decades.  While the Germans...

Sirio Elettra II The Italian industry is often frowned upon, not least in the motor car industry. The reality is far from that, as I can vouch for. In the early 1970s, I drove two FIAT cars, a 124 and a 125; neither gave me any trouble. By contrast, the mighty US car industry had proven to be a nightmare,...