This is an Argus C44R, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by Argus Inc., between the years of 1958 and 1962. It was an update to the earlier C44, adding a rapid wind lever, a pop up rewind lever, and plus a provision for the optional Argus CM2 coupled exposure meter. …
Ever since John Glenn brought up a heavily modified ANSCO Anscoset 35mm camera into space on board the Friendship 7 space craft during the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, NASA has continued to look for ways to bring cameras into outer space. The idea of taking photos in space doesn’t really sound…
This is a Falcon Super-Action Candid, a solid bodied premium 127 format camera made by the Utility Mfg. Company of New York City starting in 1938. There were a few different variants of the Super-Action Candid, this being the model FE which indicates it has the slower Wollensak f/4.5 lens…
Here at Mike Eckman dot com, I like to ask the tough questions. Questions other camera review sites are unwilling or unable to answer. One day, while listening to some Kid Rock, drinking Budweiser, eating McDonalds, and shooting off fireworks, I thought to myself, “Gee, what was the best American…
This is a Kodak Ektra, a 35mm rangefinder camera produced by the Eastman Kodak Corporation between the years 1941 and 1948. It was at the time of it’s release, and still is today, the most advanced and feature rich American made 35mm camera ever built. Designed to compete with German…
The year was 1953, the Eastman Kodak company was on a string of successful cameras produced for the US military, from the Kodak 35 (called PH-324), Kodak Ektra, and Kodak Medalist, and the time had come to create yet another quality compact camera up to military specifications. The Kodak Signet…
This is a Bell & Howell Foton, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by the Bell & Howell Company of Chicago, Illinois. It first went on sale in 1948 as a top of the line American built camera, designed to compete with the best of what Germany had to offer. The…
You press the button, we do the rest. There have been a number of brilliant men and women throughout history that have introduced ideas or products into the marketplace that not only revolutionized a product, but rather a way in which things were done. Nikola Tesla, Orville & Wilbur Wright,…
This is the Kodak Tourist, made by the Eastman Kodak Corporation between the years 1948 and 1951. It is a medium format folding camera that shoots 6cm x 9cm images on 620 roll film. Despite it’s humble appearance, the Tourist series was somewhat of an upscale camera, optionally featuring Kodak’s…
This is a Vokar II, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by the Vokar Corporation from Dexter, Michigan between the years of 1947 and 1948. It was a very ambitious American made rangefinder camera that boasted a lot of value for the money, including an entirely Vokar designed lens and shutter…
This is a Perfex Speed Candid, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by the Candid Camera Corporation out of Chicago, Illinois between the years 1938 and 39. It was Candid’s first ever camera, and the first camera to bear the “Perfex” name, which after this model evolved into a semi-successful family…
It doesn’t take long to be into photography before the name Louis Daguerre comes up as one of the most important pioneer’s in early photography. Daguerre’s contribution was of course the daguerreotype, a revolutionary (for the time) process for making photographs on polished silver plated copper plates. Wikipedia has a…
