First "No-Guesswork" camera?

skorpiius · Jul 11, 2016

I've been researching when various camera technologies first appeared (range finding, autofocus, auto exposure, etc) and one that I haven't been able to determine is what camera had first had coupled-light meter ie you adjust the shutter/aperture and a needle shows you if you have it right.

That lead me to wonder, what camera was the first to have BOTH:
- confirmable focus, via a technology like range finding rather than guessing how many feet and setting on a dial
- coupled light meter rather than guessing based on a scale or using a hand held light meter and manually setting both aperture and shutter speed

Any ideas?

** ideally not fixed focus

ic-racer · Jul 11, 2016

View camera was the first with a confirmable focus that did not need one to guess the focal distance.
I think Contax III had first built in meter.

skorpiius · Jul 11, 2016

Looks the Contax is semi-coupled, you change the shutter speed to center the needle, then read the aperture off a scale. Wonder what camera had both coupled shutter speed and aperture

EDIT: No I think I was wrong about this, more like you change a knob to sort of set an 'EV' value, then you use a chart which gives you a range of aperture/shutter speed combos for that EV that you manually set.

summicron1 · Jul 11, 2016

First camera with a couple electric eye for automatic exposure was the Kodak Super 620, 1938-1945.

Slick camera, very rare. Coupled rangefinder. The selenium cell adjusted lens opening, and changing the shutter speed adjusted the meter cell, so it was full auto-exposure.
http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Kodak_Super_Six-20

tomfrh · Jul 12, 2016

Wow! Full auto in 1938!

AgX · Jul 12, 2016

But it took to 1959 for a camera with program-automatic to show up:
Agfa Optima (no read-outs except right-exposure confirmation, scale focusing)

skorpiius · Jul 12, 2016

The one 'middle feature' I'm still wondering about is coupled meter but not automatic, so where you can adjust both the shutter speed and the aperture and a needle or other marker moves appropriately to indicate exposure accuracy. Haven't yet figured out which camera had it first. I'm guessing between 1930 and 1950

skorpiius · Jul 12, 2016

tomfrh said:
Wow! Full auto in 1938!

Unfortunately very unreliable from what I've read though (and cost something like $3500 in todays dollars). It is very impressive though.

In fact I think today it also costs about $3500 in today's dollars if working properly due to it's huge collectible value.

skorpiius · Jul 12, 2016

I believe range finding first showed up in the Kodak 3A Autographic special from 1916(!)
I kind of want this camera since I always seem to forget to focus half the time I use an old folder.

Auto Exposure in the 1938 Super Six-20 (and then reliably in the mid 1950s)

Integrated AF (and film advance) in the Minolta Maxxum 7000 1985

AgX · Jul 12, 2016

skorpiius said:
The one 'middle feature' I'm still wondering about is coupled meter but not automatic, so where you can adjust both the shutter speed and the aperture and a needle or other marker moves appropriately to indicate exposure accuracy. Haven't yet figured out which camera had it first. I'm guessing between 1930 and 1950

That Kodak camera showed its aperture setting after setting the shutter speed. Thus you got a readout exactly the same as with the later time-priority auto-exposure cameras.

Full manual, with coupled setting of both shutter-speed and aperture:
I rather assume (for European cameras): mid 50s

Your question would better fit the "collectors" forum.

skorpiius · Jul 12, 2016

AgX said:
Your question would better fit the "collectors" forum.

That is probably a good suggestion.

John Koehrer · Jul 13, 2016

AgX said:
But it took to 1959 for a camera with program-automatic to show up:
Agfa Optima (no read-outs except right-exposure confirmation, scale focusing)

Bullseye Contarex a SLR. Also from 1959 had a selenium meter cell above the lens but
exposure indicators in the finder.

AgX · Jul 13, 2016

That Contarex has a coupled meter and full manual settings. The Optima has program-automatic.

Marvin · Jul 13, 2016

summicron1 said:
First camera with a couple electric eye for automatic exposure was the Kodak Super 620, 1938-1945.

Slick camera, very rare. Coupled rangefinder. The selenium cell adjusted lens opening, and changing the shutter speed adjusted the meter cell, so it was full auto-exposure.
http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Kodak_Super_Six-20

View attachment 160453

$225 in 1938 would probably be around $4000 today. Wealthy mans camera!

AgX · Jul 13, 2016

Only a few hundred were made. And even that seems much.

First "No-Guesswork" camera?

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency