Viewfinder Archives - Facts, notes and thoughts about vintage cameras and other trifle matters

August 21, 2026

Utility Manufacturing Company

Utility Manufacturing Company Last week I wrote about the peculiar affair of the Ciro 35 camera, and I thought I was done with intertwining camera brands. It didn’t take long to prove me wrong. Today’s camera is a Falcon by Utility Manufacturing Company, whose history leaves Ciro in the dust. It is a smorgasbord of brands and models, proving...

120/127/Medium Format/USA/Viewfinder Comments: 0

June 24, 2026

Foth Derby camera

Foth Derby camera C.F. Foth of Gdansk/Danzig and later Berlin and Paris was a short-lived camera maker that offered a line of three camera series for a little over a decade. Most of Foth’s camera models did not gain prominence in camera history; the one model still seen is the Derby, which seems to have been its bestseller. There are...

127/Germany/Pop out/Viewfinder Comments: 0

June 23, 2026

Foth camera family list

Foth camera family list Foth Derby page A few weeks ago, I finished the Gallus page, where the next camera should have been Foth, Gallus’s forefather. I pulled it off the shelf and set it on my desk. Nonetheless, I was distracted by other French models, so the little Foth became a fixture next to my mouse pad. Today I...

120/127/Box/Germany/Klapp/Pop out/TLR/Viewfinder Comments: 0

June 21, 2026

Bauchet Mosquito

Bauchet Mosquito Camera Bauchet was established early in the last century in France as a manufacturer of photographic chemicals and papers, as well as basic consumer electronics; both disciplines were fresh and up for grabs. They had achieved good standing against mainstays such as Kodak, AGFA, Gevaert, and Ilford. During the occupation, the company’s production was seconded to Perutz of...

#620/France/Viewfinder Comments: 0

June 8, 2026

Tougodo Meisupii

Tougodo Meisupii I wrote about Tougodo in two previous articles: one on the entire family and another on the Toyoca 35 S and Strato 35 models. The camera on my bench now is an early Meisupii, dated to before the war, to 1937. A word about the Tougodo naming convention: model names could be grouped into three categories. Japanese-sounding names:...

Japan/No-need-darkroom/Tougodo/Viewfinder Comments: 0

May 26, 2026

Tougodo Toyoca 35S / Strato 35

Toyoca 35S / Strato 35 Tougodo was a prolific camera maker that began as early as 1930 and lasted till the mid-1970s. On the face of it, they made about 200 camera models, but this figure should be heavily discounted, as most models were duplicates. A list of the Tougodo models is on the dedicated page. In comparison, the camera...

35 mm/Bolta/Japan/Tougodo/Viewfinder Comments: 0

May 22, 2026

Tougodo camera family list

Tougodo camera family list More on Toyoca cameras More on Meisupii cameras The Tougodo company was established in Japan in 1930 as a maker of Yen cameras. During the war, production shifted to military devices. After the war, the company continued in the camera trade, producing an impressive array of Hit as well as TLR models, some styled after the...

120/127/Bolta/Box/Hit/Japan/Rangefinder/TLR/Tougodo/Viewfinder Comments: 0

May 7, 2026

Gamma Italy Alba

Gamma Italy Alba Gamma camera family list Gamma Perla I have gone through the Gamma Roma’s history and background in my two earlier posts, so I will now narrow my focus. Three years after Gamma Roma lowered expectations for its Gamma camera models and introduced the Perla, the company took another step downward in 1953 by presenting the Stella, essentially...

35 mm/Gamma Italy/Italy/Viewfinder Comments: 0

May 7, 2026

Gamma Italy family list

Gamma Italy camera family list Gamma Perla Gamma Alba In the post-war years, Italy saw quite a few companies venture into camera manufacturing. Most had no prior roots in the industry, with some lacking even a basic grounding in fine mechanics. Some aimed at mass-market products and lasted for several decades, while others flew too close to the sun and...

35 mm/Gamma Italy/Italy/Rangefinder/Viewfinder Comments: 0

April 26, 2026

Chinon Bellami

Chinon Bellami One of the best comedy films of all time is the overlooked 1941, by Steven Spielberg, available on Prime, with a host of comics not assembled since It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (Guess I reveal my age). 1941 is a string of over-the-top spectacles, with John Belushi immortalized as Captain Wild Bill Kelso in scenes never...

35 mm/Chinon/Japan/Mini camera/Viewfinder Comments: 0

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