What Make of Camera Is This??!!

[Stillhomewardbound]

Anyone out there know about old family cameras of the late 50s / early 60s. I'm giving a talk soon about preserving my father's professional and family archive and I'd like to know what camera he was shooting with.


This picture is as much as I have by way of identification. Any guesses anyone?!

Despite being an excellent photographer he somehow got out of the habit in the late 60s and at some point the camera got mislaid.

It is some variety of a 35mm Rangefinder and I've had suggested a Leica M9. I'm not convinced it was a smart as that, but any suggestions will be most welcome.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It is some variety of a 35mm Rangefinder and I've had suggested a Leica M9. I'm not convinced it was a smart as that, but any suggestions will be most welcome.

It does look very like like a Leica M9, but with some important points of identification worn down.

[Hornspieler]

It does look very like like a Leica M9, but with some important points of identification worn down.

Might it have been a Super Ikonta? One very similar passed through my hands in the early 1960s.

HS

[Bryn]

Might it have been a Super Ikonta? One very similar passed through my hands in the early 1960s.

HS

A Super Ikonta sans bellows? I would think, if a Leica, or copy thereof, an M3.

[Stunsworth]

It certainly isn't a Leica of any description.

It looks like a Werra to me...

http://collectiblend.com/Cameras/Zeiss,Carl-VEB/Werra-1A.html

The film was advanced, and the shutter cocked, by turning the leatherette covered ring at the base of the lens.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The Werra doesn't have the Leica curve. I still favour the M9.

[Bryn]

Is the M9 not a pretty recent digital model introduced in 2009?

[Stunsworth]

Is the M9 not a pretty recent digital model introduced in 2009?

Yes.

Theres no rangefinder window, no frame line illumination window, it isn't a Leica.

[Stunsworth]

The Werra doesn't have the Leica curve. I still favour the M9.

If you look at the two photos, they both have the same viewfinder, the same leatherette ring around the lens, and a screw at about 4 o clock on the body of the lens.

The viewfinder is too near the edge of the camera to be a Leica - and there's no frame selection lever.

[Dave2002]

If you look at the two photos, they both have the same viewfinder, the same leatherette ring around the lens, and a screw at about 4 o clock on the body of the lens.

The viewfinder is too near the edge of the camera to be a Leica - and there's no frame selection lever.

The viewfinder is different. In the original picture the top of the viewfinder protrudes above the top of the camera. There is also a leather carrying case, which appears to give some curves to the camera, but the camera itself may not have any curves.

[french frank]

Not something like a Soviet Fed? The light seems to be catching something in the black bodywork, just to the right of the top of the lens barrel, where the Feds had a screw.

[Stillhomewardbound]

Excellent responses here and a very informative debate. Thank you all.

I'm pretty convinced that Stunsworth has it with a 'Werra'. The top front and the top of the camera are all but featureless, unlike the Leicas which had some amount of controls on the top. With the Werra, I understand, the adjustments were all made on the barrel of the lens.

There are a couple of details not right in Stunsworth's picture, but that's only down to model variation. The picture I produce below corresponds more closely to my father's camera include the ridge or lip around the viewfinder window and the introduction of the 'Werra' marque on the front of the camera which, now I know what it is, you can just make out the beginning of it in my father's picture.

Finally, he often spoke about how good the lens on the camera was and Carl Zeiss is a name that definitely rings a bell with me. (The Werra, I read, was by-product of the Zeiss company which was predominantly a lens manfacturer).





Thank you, Stunsworth. I'm more than happy that you've nailed it and that gives me some hard info where there was a question mark.

Here's a detailed write-up for the Werra:

http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Werra

SHB

[Stunsworth]

Finally, he often spoke about how good the lens on the camera was and Carl Zeiss is a name that definitely rings a bell with me

When I was in my early teens a friend had a Werra, and I was impressed by the lens quality - certainly better than the Ilford Sportsman that I had at the time. I also thought it was incredibly 'cool' that you twisted the lens barrel to advance the film.

I'm glad to have helped.

[french frank]

Not quite the identical model to TP's - but if you want to see an enthusiast enthusing ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhNNoReVQk8

[Stillhomewardbound]

Brilliant, FF. There's another video which does feature Dad's version: http://youtu.be/nM7rrvTA6HQ

It means a lot to me to have got to the bottom of this and it was only yesterday that I happened across the original picture here and twigged that I had the chanced to answer an oft asked question '... what was the camera that Dad had?'

For a brief period, no more than a decade, my father was a keen amateur photographer with a singular focus. That of his children growing up. He had a very good sense of composition and having recently uncovered the original negatives for some of the family archive it is possible to see how he actively worked to achieve a particular shot, making a number of different attempts.