Germany Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Facts, notes and thoughts about vintage cameras and other trifle matters

March 18, 2024

Balda Baldessa

Balda Baldessa For the past half-century, I have written about cameras and camera makers. The evolution of two distinct groups, the post-war Japanese and the prewar German, follows a clear pattern. Manufacturers within both groups follow a pattern as if fate was preset for them. Balda, a camera maker who has been active for about fifty years in the middle...

35 mm/Balda/Germany/Rangefinder Comments: 2

March 13, 2024

King Regula Cita

King Regula Cita King Regula made cameras under different name legacies. The early line was the Regula, with later sub-lines like Sprint / Sprinty / Sprintic, Regulette, Picca, Olymatic / Olympia, and Cita. The Cita was meant to be a higher-class camera and priced as such. Kerkmann praises the Cita quality, but the only tangible reference is to the surface...

35 mm/Germany/King Regula/Rangefinder Comments: 0

March 9, 2024

King Regula camera family list

King Regula camera list King was established in Germany in 1936 as a machine shop and entered the camera world in the early 1950s. They made a long list of Regula-named camera models, from entry-level viewfinders to rangefinders, with or without light meters, and several pocket, 126-format and disk models. My records show only one box camera (made by Vredeborch)...

110/35 mm/Germany/King Regula/Rangefinder/Viewfinder Comments: 0

March 5, 2024

United States Camera USC 35

United States Camera USC 35 In the early last century, there were two photographic centres in the US. One was Rochester, NY, headquarters of Kodak and its predecessors, and the other was Chicago, IL, where a slew of small companies entered the up-and-coming industry. The very early ones were Burke and James in 1897, DeVry in 1913, and projector makers ...

35 mm/Germany/King Regula/USA/Viewfinder Comments: 0

February 26, 2024

Franka Franka

Franka Franka Franka Kamerawerk was one of the early German camera makers, established in 1909. The first models were drop bed folders, then graduated into smaller Klapp-style cameras. It is odd, but the company did not have box cameras on its lineup, as was common with most camera makers’ evolution. In the post-war years, they added monoblock cameras under Bonafix,...

35 mm/Franka/Germany/Viewfinder Comments: 0

December 29, 2023

Royal Camera Royal 35

Royal Camera Royal 35 Here is another camera maker that was established in Japan in the post-war years, mainly to cater to the spending habits of the 450,000 GI posted there. There is little information about it, just enough to see its name as a supplier to numerous camera distributors with a precious few models sold under its own name....

Germany/Japan/Rangefinder/Royal Camera/Wirgin Comments: 0

December 15, 2023

Bolta Photavit

Bolta Photavit Preamble Using online sources for camera research is challenging, as available information does not always tally. In extreme cases, it seems like the tale about blind people describing an elephant, where each portrays the part he touches. Consulting the printed guides, one may find different classifications for a camera line, which adds to the uncertainty. Cameras in focus,...

828/Bolta/Germany/Mini camera/Viewfinder Comments: 0

November 29, 2023

Voss Diax

Voss Diax Cameras in review specs Diax camera family list Diax Standard images Diax Ia images Diax IIa images Diax accessories More on Diax IIb The city of Ulm in southern Germany sits where two ancient trade routes meet, one following the Danube, flowing from the Swiss Alps to the Black Sea, and the other the Alb Valley route, crossing...

35 mm/Diax/Germany/Rangefinder/Viewfinder Comments: 2

November 20, 2023

Manimex Hanimar

Manimex Hanimar / Finetta 88 The Finetta 88 / Hanimex Hanimar was the first real upgrade camera in the Finetta dynasty. Although it retains the previous generation’s overall looks, it has finer lines and a solid feel. The body is metal, unlike the early bakelite, and is much heavier, 475 gr vs 370 gr, which contributes to the impression of...

35 mm/Finetta/Germany/Hanimex/Viewfinder Comments: 0