Japan 1952 – Compact – 35 mm – Rare. The Minolta-35 was launched in the spring of 1947. At the time, Minolta had to recover from the war with only three factories left. Photographic film was rare, reserved primarily for medical radiography. The 120 format being prohibited by the authorities, camera manufacturers turned to the … Read more51 Minolta
Minolta 35 F
Italy 1950 – Compact – 35 mm – Rare. Ducati was founded in Bologna (Italy) in 1926 by the three brothers Adriano, Bruno and Marcello Ducati. Even though today the company is principally known for its (exceptional) motorcycles, Ducati started its activity with the production of electrical condensers. Later, they diversified in the fields of … Read more50 Ducati
Simplex
Before the motorcycles
United States 1895 – Box Camera – Custom film – Rare. The Kombi camera was produced at the end of the 1800s by Alfred C. Kemper from Chicago. It was meant to be mass produced and an advertisement of the times mentions that more than 50 000 were produced in a single year. The … Read more49 Kemper
The Kombi
Early mass production
Italy 1952 – Compact – 127 film – Rare. Some designs are just Italian. Period. And sometimes design makes everything. Bencini, established in Milan in the late 1930’s was one of the flag bearers of the Italian camera market in the middle of last century. Most of the Bencini cameras were variations of a traditional … Read more48 Bencini
Comet III
France 1908 – Box Camera – 4×4 Plates – Rare. Introduced and sold in 1908 as the “one Franc camera” the Franceville No.1 was made of two shells in “black lacquer”, actually hardened papier-mâché obtained by molding and compression, is remarkably rigid and resistant to deformation. The camera is loaded using a small holder designed … Read more47 Natali, Collo & cie
Le Franceville No. 1bis
The one-Franc camera
Japan 1950 – Reflex TLR – Bolta film – Rare. The Tanzer was produced in the early 50s in Japan by the Nomura optical company. Not much is known about the Nomura company, which apparently only produced this camera in two versions (with and without flash synchronisation) and did not leave a notable mark. The … Read moreNomura
Tanzer “smile”
Japan 1978 – Subminiature – 110 film – Infrequent. Launched in 1978, the Pentax Auto 110 was a very exciting camera, causing quite a stir among photography fans. It was indeed a (super cute) miniature version of a 35 mm interchangeable lens reflex. Pentax engineers were the first to release a 110 reflex, equipping it with … Read more46 Pentax
Auto 110
Japan 1948 – Lighter – Lighter fluid – Rare. The K.K.W. Camera Lighter is very well known to camera collectors as it is often the first non-camera item to join their collection. The K.K.W. Lighter is a beautiful example of Japanese craftsmanship. It was first manufactured in 1948 in Occupied Japan as a wick lighter … Read moreK.K.W.
Camera Lighter
France 1937 – Subminiature – Custom film – Rare. The Eljy and Super-Eljy cameras were produced by Lumiere (from the Lumiere brothers) from 1937 and are among the most recognizable French miniature cameras. They were extremely popular cameras as they were built with almost no major evolution from 1937 to 1951 when they were replaced … Read more45 Lumiere
Super Eljy
Germany 1936 – Reflex TLR – 35 mm – Very Rare. Introduced in 1935 by Zeiss Ikon, the Contaflex was an innovative 35mm twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera that stood out for its advanced design and built-in photoelectric cell. At the time, it was a groundbreaking development that captured the attention of photographers, despite its steep … Read more44 Zeiss Ikon
Contaflex
6000 Produced
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