24 x 24mm or 24 x 30mm Cameras?

rbultman · Mar 14, 2015

I'm familiar with the "normal" 36 x 24 mm, half frame and various pano formats. Today I saw a Robot Royal 24 in another thread that answered my question about whether a square format 135 camera had ever been created. Looks like the Diana also supports 24 x 24.

I've also wondered if a 30 x 24 mm camera has ever existed. This is the same aspect ratio as 8x10 paper.

So, just how many 24 x 24 camera models existed? How many, if any, in 30 x 24?

Regards,
Rob

snapguy · Mar 14, 2015

Nikom

Nikon made a rangefinder camera in the 1950s that produced a negative on 35mm film that could be blown up to 8x10 without cropping. Nobody much bought them and the cameras now are expensive.

summicron1 · Mar 14, 2015

I think 7-perf stereo cameras are 24 by 30, or close to it.

Ricardo Miranda · Mar 14, 2015

snapguy said:
Nikon made a rangefinder camera in the 1950s that produced a negative on 35mm film that could be blown up to 8x10 without cropping. Nobody much bought them and the cameras now are expensive.

The Nikon I rangefinder was 32x24mm.
It was actually a problem in standardisation that lead to reverting to 36x24mm.
At that time Nikon wasn't known as a camera manufacturer, only as a lens manufacturer and even then it was hardly known outside Japan.

Oren Grad · Mar 14, 2015

The Zeiss Tenax I and II make 24x24mm pictures, as does the successor East German Taxona model. I have a Taxona with the 37.5mm f/3.5 Jena Tessar. It's a delightfully quirky little camera.

ic-racer · Mar 14, 2015

The 126 format film was 35mm wide with about a 26x26 square image.

AgX · Mar 14, 2015

rbultman said:
Today I saw a Robot Royal 24 in another thread that answered my question about whether a square format 135 camera had ever been created. Looks like the Diana also supports 24 x 24.

The Robot Royal was a quite obscure camera.
But the (over here) ubiquitous Agfa Rapid cameras mostly gave a 24x24 frame. Though not using the type-135 cassette, but the Rapid cassettes, that nevertheless took the same film.

Jerevan · Mar 14, 2015

I have a Zeiss Tenax II - excellent although rather rare camera. Splendid pre-war build quality.

Dr Croubie · Mar 14, 2015

I have no idea what brand it was, but I've seen a 135 TLR that took 24x24mm. Probably just a toy though...

gone · Mar 14, 2015

My Diana makes square photos on 120 film. Not sure how big they are. Maybe 4.5x4.5? I get 16 on a roll, so that must be it.

I once owned one of those Robot Royals that took 24x24 photos (got tons of photos on a 36 exp roll of film). The thing had a build quality that made a Leica seem cheap, and was as heavy as lead. No strap lugs either. Loved that spring loaded film advance though! Unfortunately, the lens on mine was not up to a Leica, and a 24x24 photo could not be enlarged much. Scanning them was a challenge too. The more desirable camera was the Robot Royal 36, which took conventional sized pics.

TheToadMen · Mar 14, 2015

Ricardo Miranda said:
The Nikon I rangefinder was 32x24mm.
It was actually a problem in standardisation that lead to reverting to 36x24mm.
At that time Nikon wasn't known as a camera manufacturer, only as a lens manufacturer and even then it was hardly known outside Japan.

I checked the book "Nikon Rangefinder Camera" by Robert Rotoloni.

The first rangefinder Nikon I (1948-1949) was 24 x 32 format and was not allowed to be exported to the US because it was not compatible with Kodachrome slide mounts.
The next model was Nikon M (August 1949 - January 1951) with format 24 x 34, which is half way between the 24 x 36 (Leica "L" size) size and the 24 x 32 (Nikon "N" size).
The "first" official Nikon rangefinder in the US was the following Nikon S (from January 1951) with format 24 x 36.

Also an interesting read on film formats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_format

randyB · Mar 14, 2015

The Agfa Rapid was somewhat popular in the 60's, used 35mm film which came in Agfa factory load cassettes just for the Rapid. If I remember correctly the image was 24mm x 24mm, color print and B&W film. The film went from one cassette to another on the takeup side. It was sort of like a Kodak Instamatic but used 35mm film which gave a sharper image than 126. The Rapid system was pretty much gone by the time the 110 Instamatic came out.

GregW · Mar 14, 2015

Summicron is right, my Busch Verascope F40 3D camera shoots 30X24 frames. It also has mono mode so you can shoot non stereo frames.

IloveTLRs · Mar 15, 2015

Last month I bought a Zeiss Tenax I, with a coated Tessar (pictured here, not mine.) It's a very nice little camera that does 24 x 24.

Ricardo Miranda · Mar 15, 2015

TheToadMen said:
I checked the book "Nikon Rangefinder Camera" by Robert Rotoloni.

The first rangefinder Nikon I (1948-1949) was 24 x 32 format and was not allowed to be exported to the US because it was not compatible with Kodachrome slide mounts.
The next model was Nikon M (August 1949 - January 1951) with format 24 x 34, which is half way between the 24 x 36 (Leica "L" size) size and the 24 x 32 (Nikon "N" size).
The "first" official Nikon rangefinder in the US was the following Nikon S (from January 1951) with format 24 x 36.

Also an interesting read on film formats: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_format

Thanks Bert for the extra explanation.

davidmasek · Mar 15, 2015

Opema cameras (made by Meopta) were also 24x32 ... http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Opema

thuggins · Mar 22, 2015

TheToadMen said:
The first rangefinder Nikon I (1948-1949) was 24 x 32 format and was not allowed to be exported to the US because it was not compatible with Kodachrome slide mounts.

24 X 32 was the Japanese standard. It has a 4:3 aspect ratio that they apparently preferred (cf. the 18 X 24 "half" frame). The Olympus 35 I (cat's paw) had this aspect ratio. The American occupying authority forced them to change it in the subsequent model.

Xmas · Mar 22, 2015

Ricardo Miranda said:
The Nikon I rangefinder was 32x24mm.
It was actually a problem in standardisation that lead to reverting to 36x24mm.
At that time Nikon wasn't known as a camera manufacturer, only as a lens manufacturer and even then it was hardly known outside Japan.

Kodak only returned Kodachrome 24x36 slides mounted in cardboard 2x2s

24 x 24mm or 24 x 30mm Cameras?

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