This is a Ferrania Condor I, a 35mm rangefinder camera made in Italy by Officine Galileo and distributed by Ferrania starting in 1947. Models of the Condor exist both with and without the Ferrania branding, but otherwise are identical. The Condor was a simple, but well built fixed lens rangefinder…
This is an AGFA Memo, a compact folding camera made in Binghamton, New York by the AGFA ANSCO Corporation starting in 1939. This version of the Memo is a less common variant that shoots 18mm x 24mm single frame images on ANSCO’s Memo film, which is very similar to AGFA’s…
Back in May, with the help of Johnny Sisson of the Classic Lenses Podcast, I recorded a two part proof of concept podcast which we jokingly called the Cocaine and Waffles Podcast. https://www.classiclensespodcast.com/e/cocaine-waffles-episode-1/ https://www.classiclensespodcast.com/e/classic-lenses-podcast-presents-cocaine-waffles/ I have been wanting to explore the idea of a new kind of podcast that worked…
Between the years 1947 and 1955, the total amount of exported camera goods from Japan to the rest of the world rose from a miniscule $9200 to $7,144,442.44, $4,683,332.02 of which went to just the United States. In the decades that would follow, Japan would become the world’s biggest and…
This is the Werra, a 35mm scale focus camera produced in Jena, East Germany by VEB Carl Zeiss Jena starting in 1954. This is the first version in a long line of Werra cameras that were produced in a variety of configurations until 1968. Later versions of the Werra came…
Most industries have their own trade shows in which vendors show off their latest and greatest products to customers to lust over in an attempt to drum up excitement and sales. For the photography industry, Photokina was the largest such show, each year filling expo centers showing off new cameras,…
This is a KW Prakti, a fully automatic 35mm camera produced by VEB Kamera und Kinowerke Dresden from 1961 to 1964. The Prakti is notable as being one of the first cameras to not only have an internal electric motor for advancing the film and cocking the shutter, but also…
This is a Minolta AF-Sv, a 35mm point and shoot, fully automatic camera made in Japan by Minolta starting in 1984. Known by it’s nickname “the Talker”, the AF-Sv is notable as having a voice feature in which the camera can play back voice alerts as reminders for things like…
This is a Suzuki Press Van, a medium format folding camera made by Suzuki Kōgaku Kōgyō K.K. in 1953. The Press Van is dual format, and can shoot both 6cm x 6cm images on 120 roll film and 24mm x 36mm images on 35mm film. This is the first version…
There’s a saying from an old Chevrolet commercial that describes things “as American as baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie”. Now, I like baseball, hot dogs, and apple pie, so maybe there’s something to that, but if you were to ask me, what is more American than those things, at…
This is a “military” Kardon 35mm rangefinder camera, produced by the Premier Instrument Corp in New York City between the years 1947 and 1954. The Kardon was originally developed as an “American Leica” after imports of cameras from Germany had ceased during World War II. Charged with building the camera…
Mistakes were made…again! Back in January, I posted a second look review of the Zeiss-Ikon Contessa 35, a camera that I had previously reviewed and drew some incorrect conclusions about due to me having a camera in less than stellar operational condition. A reader of this site named Peter noticed…
