The Rangefinder Camera
September 22nd 2024
Perfex Special
A focal plane shutter proved to be too difficult to fabricate reliably at a lower cost, but the Candid Camera Corporation still wanted to produce a higher quality camera. What resulted was a unique line of cameras that existed in a somewhat gray area. Advertised as the ‘Perfex Special’, four distinct models were initially created using leaf shutters and lenses from cameras produced a decade prior.
November 25th 2023
Acro Model R
Acro Scientific Products Company was a strange and short lived camera manufacturer, with a convoluted and somewhat obscured history. Out of nowhere, they created a camera that would challenge the completion head on, and fade into obscurity a few years later. This is the story of the 1940 Acro Model R.
March 5th 2023
Ansco Super Regent
During the success of Agfa’s Karat line, Ansco announced the first ‘budget’ cameras to enter the ever growing miniature film market. Debuting at the 1954 IRE National Convention, the Ansco Super Regent would go on to be produced for around a decade to moderate success.
September 26th 2021
GAF Memo 35 EE
In the late 1960s, Ansco changed their name to GAF and for around 20 years and began rebranding a variety of Chinon, Ricoh, and Petri cameras. One such camera to be rebranded was a small auto exposure rangefinder from Chinon. This was the 1971 GAF Memo 35 EE.
May 29th 2021
KMZ Zorki S
Commonly referred to as the Zorki C due to the Cyrillic S, the Zorki S was the first in the Synchro series of cameras produced at the KMZ factory in 1955.
May 25th 2020
Blada Super Baldinette
Not many people have heard of Balda let alone seen one of their cameras. One such example from 1951 was a top of the line model for Balda at the time, the highly regarded and expertly crafted Balda Super Baldinette.
January 14th 2020
Revere 1074
Revere was well known for consumer movie cameras, but after their acquisition by 3M in the 60s, they made a handful of 126 cameras with the help of Minolta
August 7th 2019
Petri 7s
With the likes of Minolta, Yashica, and Leica rangefinders to compete with, the Petri 7s managed to be in production for over 10 years. Becoming a cult classic only recently, the Petri 7s tends to garner much fanfare from the community
January 8th 2019
Minolta Hi-matic f
A lower end model in the Hi-Matic line of cameras, but still a quite capable one. Being incredibly small and having manual focus, it scratches the itch for a rangefinder but has the ease of a point and shoot.