schooler@inmet.UUCP (09/30/85)
(Here follows some more ramblings about old cameras.)
Recently, motor drives, even built-in ones, have become ubiquitous.
It seems as if every new amateur camera has one. It used to be, of
course, that motor drives were the large and expensive prerogatives of
professional photographers. Before the Nikon SP and F in the late
fifties, motors were not common on any camera. There were a few
oddballs, though. (Or perhaps we should say distinguished
predecessors!)
One of my favourite cameras is a Robot I, dating from 1934 or so. It
is a very small 35mm camera taking square format (24 x 24 mm) pictures.
Though it has no rangefinder (just a puny viewfinder), and (of course)
no exposure meter, it does have one exotic feature -- a built-in
spring (clockwork) winder. After winding the large knob on the top plate,
the Robot will take about 24 exposures at a rate of 2-3 shots per second.
For a fifty-year-old camera about the size of a Minox 35mm, this is
pretty amazing.
The Robot I was followed by a whole line of very similar Robot II
series. All these cameras had interchangeable lenses. The most
famous version was the "Luftwaffe"-Robot. Although many varieties
exist, this was usually a black Robot II with an extra-long winding
knob (for 48 exposures) and a 75mm lens. It was used as a gun-camera,
that is it was mounted alongside a fighter's machine-guns and
triggered simultaneously to record hits.
Robots eventually got bigger and fancier, adding a rangefinder in
the mid-50's to produce a new series, the "Royal"s. These were also
produced in a standard format (24 x 36 mm) version. All Robots were
fine picture-takers, being outfitted with Zeiss or Schneider lenses
and being very finely built. These cameras were never cheap, being
produced mainly for instrumentation use, and for professionals with
special needs. The company is still producing cameras, by the way.
Cameras were also made with separate spring motor drives. I have a
Praktina FX (1955), which was apparently the very first SLR to have an
add-on auto winder, albeit a spring-wound one. I have heard that a
big selling point was that this motor provided an instant-return
mirror, a feature greatly desired by photographers in those days. The
camera with motor is tremendously noisy, though impressive, in
operation. One marked inconvenience is the semi-automatic lens, which
requires one to re-cock it to return to maximum aperture.
There are many other examples: the famous Leica Mooly motors for
their III-series rangefinders, the Kodak Motormatic, the Graphic Jet
(this one powered by a CO2 cartridge!), the Bell and Howell Foton,
etc. It is interesting how long the motor-drive principle has been
around, how many different technologies have been applied, and how
only recently has the idea really caught on.
The modern electric winder is more convenient, and far cheaper, than
the old spring-wound models, but one wonders if the current fad is
just that, an passing fancy, rather than the application of superior
technology to an essential need.
-- Richard Schooler
Intermetrics, Inc.
{ihnp4,ima}!inmet!schooler