Episode 93: John Wade, Wrayflex and Clockwork Cameras

We’re back with Episode 93 of the Camerosity Podcast! This time, we’ve altered our recording time to better suit those of our listeners across the pond who are normally sleeping when we record at our usual time. For this ‘European time zone friendly’ episode, we welcome special guest, collector, and author John Wade who has written or contributed to more than 30 books, including a couple which I have relied on for several of my camera reviews.

In addition to John, we were joined by callers Brian MacDomhnaill from Ireland, Fernando Villava from Germany, Guy from Germany, Leon Blankenhorn from Germany, and domestic callers Miles Libak and Andrew Madsen.

And of course we had our regular hosts, Anthony Rue, Stephen Strangways, and our time zone friendly recording time also allowed Paul Rybolt to join us who has been vacationing in Ireland for the past month. As this episode was recorded at 4am in Sydney, we gave Theo the day off.

With John’s expertise, we spent a lot of time talking about Britain’s only 35mm SLR, the Wrayflex. As the author of the only specialized book on the Wrayflex and the company who made it, John has a fascinating level of knowledge on this attractive and quirky camera.

In addition to Wray, we spent a lot of time talking about clockwork cameras, you know, those cameras that have a spring tensioned wind up film advance mechanism. We discussed a wide variety of models from the very first wind up camera, the Japy Le Pascal, Ansco No.1A Automatic Ansco, and later cameras like the Debrie Sept, Bell & Howell Foton, Canon Dial, Ansco Auto Half, GOMZ Leningrad, and others.

We briefly talk about the British Leica copy, the Reid and Sigrist Reid camera and the American equivalent the Premiere Instrument Kardon, among other popular British cameras.

In addition to John’s contributions, Paul shares with us another 617 camera he’s got his eye on, Brian tells a tale about lenses he thinks he needs and never uses, Mike shares an uncommon German camera he recently GASsed over, Guy brags about all his working Rollei A110s, the brightness of the Olympus Pen F’s viewfinder, and we go around the room asking which cameras each of us have the most duplicates of.

As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining!

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

For our next episode, we are going back to our regular recording time and will be welcoming Meredith and Corey Reinker from Roberts Camera/Used Photo Pro in Indianapolis, Indiana to share with us their stories selling vintage cameras on eBay and in a well established retail environment. We may welcome some callers from other camera stores too, but you’ll just have to join us to see who calls in! We will record Episode 94 on Monday, June 16th at 7pm Central Daylight Time and 8pm Eastern Daylight Time.

In This Episode

Henry Scherer Passed Away / Mike Doesn’t Know the Difference Between Ireland and Scotland
Retro Cameras / What Motivated John Wade to Start Writing About Cameras
John Wade’s A Wrayflex Story / John Researched That Book by Interviewing People Who Used to Work There
Early Wrayflex Prototypes / John Does YouTube Videos on Amateur Photographer’s Channel
Reid and Sigrist Leica Copies / Premier Instrument Kardon Leica Copy
Kodak Brownies and Instamatics Were as Ubiquitous in England as in the US
Many British Kodak Cameras Looked Different Than Their US Counterparts / 120 vs 620
Miles Had GAS for a Rectaflex / Wrayflex Viewfinders / Differences Between the Models
Britain’s Role in WWII / Cameras Made in the Allied Occupation Zone in Germany
Hand Assembling Cameras and Lens Bubbles
Clockwork Wind Up Cameras / Japy Le Pascal Wind Up Camera
Ansco No.1A Automatic Ansco and Semi-Automatic Anscos
Bell & Howell Foton / AGFA Moto-Rapid C
Andrew Asks for Advice on a Reliable and Repairable Clockwork Camera to Buy
Canon Dial 35 / Mike’s Tip for Using Alkaline Batteries in Cameras Designed for Mercury Batteries
KW Praktina with Auxiliary Motor Drive / Kodak Motormatic 35 / Ricoh Auto Half
Olympus Pen EM / GOMZ Leningrad / The Debrie Sept Will Break Your Wrists
The First British SLR Might Have Been Made by Two Germans
Brian’s Thoughts on Italy and Buying Lenses He Doesn’t Need
Popular Telephoto Lenses / Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 / Nikkor 180mm f/2.8
Guy Has Working Rollei A110 Cameras and He Loves Them
Dr. Wohler Saar Favor II / Rollei SL66 Repair / Paul Wants Another 617 Camera
Which Cameras Do Each of Us Have the Most Duplicates of?
Viewfinder Brightness Between Olympus Pen F and FT

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! – https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg