Foth camera family list
Foth camera family list
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 decided to liberate it from exile, and, getting back to my earlier notes, I was surprised to find that six months have elapsed. So much for being distracted and enjoying what you do.
In 1924, Carl Friedrich Foth set up shop in the Free City of Gdansk/Danzig, Poland. Gdansk is one of Western Europe’s most picturesque cities and has an unusual character; it is in Poland, but about 90% of its population is German. The German influence dates back to the 14th century and the Hanseatic League. In the 16th -17th centuries, most European wheat trade passed through its port; and on 1st December 1939, the first shell of WWII was fired there, with a German destroyer shelling a Polish army camp on the outskirts of Gdansk.
It was considered a city-state, with semi-autonomous status granted by the Treaty of Versailles. It later became known as the birthplace of the Solidarity movement, led by Lech Walesa, who spearheaded freeing Poland from Soviet influence. Although he entered history books as a revolutionary, he became a conservative president and lost public support till his electoral loss in 1995, when he dropped out of the public eye. The shipyards were privatized and sold piecemeal to real estate developers.
The city has a busy port, and it was a shipbuilding hub, but it is not known for fine mechanics industries.
So, based on the founder’s name and location, I would assume he was an ethnic German living in Gdansk. Otherwise, there is no reason to establish such a shop there. Some believe he was of Dutch origin, but if so, he would go by Karel Frederik, not Carl Friedrich.
The company began as an optical glass shop, offering binoculars, scopes, and microscopes. Oddly, much like Bauchet, the company was also open to the budding electronic industry. The first camera was offered in 1927, a Klapp model, closely followed by the famed Derby in 1931. The venture seemed successful, so the plant was moved to Berlin, probably closer to the market and offering a better pool of skilled tradespeople.
Nonetheless, Germany in the early 1930s was neither peaceful nor prosperous, and for some, plain dangerous. So perhaps Mr. Foth saw the writing on the wall and had set out to move production to Switzerland, which had not matured. At a long shot, Gdansk and Berlin were home to a large Jewish population that had embraced modern life, ventured into new industries, but had felt the burden of the 1933 regime change, so Mr. Foth could have well been a member of the tribe that had packed his wares and rushed out, just as my very own Opa Jaques had packed his family and fled. In hindsight, there was little other reason to uproot a successful venture twice within a decade. In the late 1930s, the plant was moved again, now to France.
All traces of the company in the late 1930s are lost. There is a mention of the company in France in 1939, with the Derby made there under Foth and thereafter under Gallus. A fresh camera line followed, clearly inspired by the Derby. It is impressive that within such a short time, Foth managed to offer a line of high-quality cameras.
I have information in print about Foth models, but nothing about the company. Researching online information about Foth was fruitful, but much of it is copy-and-paste data. As usual with vintage cameras, there are different naming conventions among different authors, and mixed-and-matched images and model names. Spelling was lost in translation, such as the definitions of De Luxe, Deluxe, and Luxus. The table below is assumed to summarize Foth’s product line, but I’m sure it would need corrections. Suggestions are welcome.
Foth had three camera lines, folders, strut-folding, TLR and a lone box model. I have only a Derby, so I did not go into detail on the other models. However, the folders seem to be variants of the same melody, with only slight differences. The TLR seem to be unique, as specified having curtain shutters. Over the entire camera line, several models were covered with a fancy skin and offered as Deluxe models. The Derby is described on a dedicated page.
More:
Old camera blog
Early photography
De wikipedia
Collection appareils
Historic camera
Collection Geven
I fix it
Camera collector proboards
| Image link | Model | Year | Type | Format | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Box | 1933 | Box | 120 | ||
 | Derby I | 1931 | Pop out | 127 | ||
 | Derby I Luxus | 1931 | Pop out | 127 | ||
 | Derby II, w/o CRF | 1934 | Pop out | 127 | Super Derby, several versions | |
 | Derby II, w CRF | 1934 | Pop out | 127 | US market | |
 | Derby II Luxus | 1934 | Pop out | 127 | ||
 | Derby Early | 1930 | Pop Out | 127 | Sport viewer | |
 | Derby IIIb | 1935 | Pop out | 127 | ||
 | Derby III | 1935 | Pop out | 127 | Derby Super Speed | |
 | Foth-Flex Luxus | 1935 | TLR | 120 | ||
 | Foth-Flex I | 1934 | TLR | 120 | ||
 | Foth-Flex II | 1937 | TLR | 120 | ||
 | Foth-Flex II Luxus | 1937 | TLR | 120 | ||
 | Foth Special (Foth) | 1935 | Folder | Two generations | ||
 | Foth-Flex | 1933 | TLR | 120 | ||
 | Mixte | 1933 | Folder | 120 or plates | Removable film back | |
 | Plate Camera | 1930 | Folder | Plate | ||
 | Plate Camera Luxus | 1930 | Folder | Plate | ||
 | Rollfilm Folding | 1927 | Folder | 120 | ||
 | Rollfilm Luxus | 1930 | Folder | 120 | Romain Talbot Errtee | |
 | Spring Camera | 1936 | Folder | 120 | Celas As de Trefle Camera | |
 | Super Derby | 1934 | Pop out | 127 | Derby II, w CRF | |
 | Spring Camera Luxus | 1936 | Folder | 120 |
