Cameras made in the United States
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…
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…
This is a Kemper Kombi, an early miniature roll film box camera and graphoscope produced by the Alfred C. Kemper Company of Chicago, Illinois, USA starting in 1893. The Kombi used a proprietary paper backed roll film developed specifically for it by the Eastman Kodak company and shot up to…
This is a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash, an all plastic box camera produced by the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York between the years 1950 and 1961. It was an update to a non-flash version that was released in 1949. All Brownie Hawkeyes take 6cm x 6cm images on…
This is an Argus C4, a 35mm rangefinder camera produced by Argus in Ann Arbor, Michigan. This particular example has what’s called the Geiss modification offered by Argus from 1954 to 1956, which for $10 they would send the camera to a Chicago company called Geiss where it’s lens would…
American cameras rarely get much love from collectors. For every Kodak Medalist or Bell & Howell Foton, there were a ka-jillion cheap Brownie and Instamatic cameras with plastic lenses, single speed shutters, and a list of features that can often be counted on one hand. With sites like mine, there…
This is the Polaroid SX-70 an instant film camera produced by Polaroid between the years of 1972 and 1981. The SX-70 was a landmark camera as it was the first instant camera in the world to use pack film, instead of the more common roll film as all previous Polaroids…
This is a Winpro 35, a 35mm point and shoot camera first made by Webster Industries and then later by Zenith Film Corp., both of Rochester, New York, USA between the years 1947 and 1955. The Winpro 35 is historically significant as it was the first camera to have a…
This review is part of the Cameras of the Dead series which I have been publishing every year on Halloween and “Halfway to” Halloween, featuring three cameras that I’ve wanted to review that either didn’t work, or was otherwise unable to shoot. Last year, I republished individual versions of each…
This review is part of the Cameras of the Dead series which I have been publishing every year on Halloween and “Halfway to” Halloween, featuring three cameras that I’ve wanted to review that either didn’t work, or was otherwise unable to shoot. Last year, I republished individual versions of each…
This review is part of the Cameras of the Dead series which I have been publishing every year on Halloween and “Halfway to” Halloween, featuring three cameras that I’ve wanted to review that either didn’t work, or was otherwise unable to shoot. Last year, I republished individual versions of each…
