Hello fellows,
a couple days ago I received a small, nice, well built film camera, meet the lovely Ferrania Condor I
BRIEF HISTORY
After the WWII, Ferrania was looking to sell cameras, of course besides his famous films (just as Kodak with his Retina cameras, for instance)
In 1948, the Ferrania Condor I was the first answer to this request
]
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
The Ferrania Condor I was made by Officine Galileo, a company placed near Firenze, well known for his precision optical instruments (microscopes, binoculars, ecc.)
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
At the time, the Ferrania Condor I was sold for 49.500 italian lire, roughly 900 USD today
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
THE CAMERA
My sample belongs to the first version of the Ferrania Condor I, made in 1948. It’s a solid, small camera: all metal, heavy despite his dimension, here below you may see some pics of the camera
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
The collapsible lens of the camera was made too by Officine Galileo – Firenze, it’s a 5 cm lens f/3.35 named Eliog, I guess it’s three lens
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
HOW IT WORKS
The Ferrania Condor I it’s a simple camera, easy to use. As the screw mount Leicas, you have two viewfinders, one to focus, another one to frame the scene. To advance the film there is a knob, not a lever. Silent, because of the diaphragm shutter. I like this camera above all because it’s really pocketable, has a good collapsible lens, and you may feel it’s well built.
The negatives I had from my first film roll with this camera are well defined, I would say crispy enough, especially in the center of course having shot them at f/3.5 or 4.5
[url=https://postimages.org/]
Here below some pics (film: AgfaPhoto APX 100)
]
[url=https://postimg.cc/8fNN4M2p]
]
[url=https://postimg.cc/gxnX3byM]
]
[url=https://postimg.cc/Bjk8g7MJ]
]
Unfortunately, the season of the well built Italian cameras – Ferrania Condor I and II, Janua San Giorgio, Gamma, Ducati and some others - was brief, let’ say roughly ten years, since late ‘40s to late ‘50s, anyway always with small numbers. Today, a good full working sample of Ferrania Condor I it costs 150-200 Euros; money well spent, at least in my opinion.
Thanks for reading my brief review,
Alfredo Doricchi
a couple days ago I received a small, nice, well built film camera, meet the lovely Ferrania Condor I
BRIEF HISTORY
After the WWII, Ferrania was looking to sell cameras, of course besides his famous films (just as Kodak with his Retina cameras, for instance)
In 1948, the Ferrania Condor I was the first answer to this request
]
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
The Ferrania Condor I was made by Officine Galileo, a company placed near Firenze, well known for his precision optical instruments (microscopes, binoculars, ecc.)
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
At the time, the Ferrania Condor I was sold for 49.500 italian lire, roughly 900 USD today
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
THE CAMERA
My sample belongs to the first version of the Ferrania Condor I, made in 1948. It’s a solid, small camera: all metal, heavy despite his dimension, here below you may see some pics of the camera
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
The collapsible lens of the camera was made too by Officine Galileo – Firenze, it’s a 5 cm lens f/3.35 named Eliog, I guess it’s three lens
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
[url=https://postimages.org/]
]
HOW IT WORKS
The Ferrania Condor I it’s a simple camera, easy to use. As the screw mount Leicas, you have two viewfinders, one to focus, another one to frame the scene. To advance the film there is a knob, not a lever. Silent, because of the diaphragm shutter. I like this camera above all because it’s really pocketable, has a good collapsible lens, and you may feel it’s well built.
The negatives I had from my first film roll with this camera are well defined, I would say crispy enough, especially in the center of course having shot them at f/3.5 or 4.5
[url=https://postimages.org/]
Here below some pics (film: AgfaPhoto APX 100)
]
[url=https://postimg.cc/8fNN4M2p]
]
[url=https://postimg.cc/gxnX3byM]
]
[url=https://postimg.cc/Bjk8g7MJ]
]
Unfortunately, the season of the well built Italian cameras – Ferrania Condor I and II, Janua San Giorgio, Gamma, Ducati and some others - was brief, let’ say roughly ten years, since late ‘40s to late ‘50s, anyway always with small numbers. Today, a good full working sample of Ferrania Condor I it costs 150-200 Euros; money well spent, at least in my opinion.
Thanks for reading my brief review,
Alfredo Doricchi