identification of a tourist camera

tobias · Apr 8, 2009

Hello,
at the weekend my father bought a rather interesting beast in an antique market, and I wish to share it, and hope that maybe some information on it might be found or constructed. Right now I only have the rather poor images that he has emailed me, and I promise that I shall update the post when I have a chance to visit and clean her up.

From what I gather, it is a nikel plated copper and brass, possibly handmade camera, built for tourist photography with a built in darkroom. The format is probably a quarter-plate, or 6.5x9cm glass-plate.

There appear to be two chemical trays, a lateral dark chamber to store the sensitized material, and apparently a printing-out window at the top.

I might add that it was bought in central Italy. The rubber blocks that hold in the plate bear PIRELLI 4/0 MARCA and a cut off word STELI... The crank that is on one side opens the guillotine of the dark chamber, which is illustrated open and closed in two of these images.

There is no lens fitted, but I have a nice early Jena Tessar, which should fit it nicely.

Thanks for the fun,
Tobias

tobias · Apr 8, 2009

apkujeong · Apr 9, 2009

Tobias, sorry - no idea how to identify it, but it looks fantastic, and I'm jealous!! If you ever do identify it please put the details on here.

tobias · Apr 9, 2009

of course I shall share all that i discover, and better pictures when i have them, and any restoration that may take place. No Idea if I would ever feel the need to use the camera, but I will most certainly get it looking its best, and probably fit a lens.

David A. Goldfarb · Apr 9, 2009

What an incredible contraption! It's great to see what one of these things looks like up close.

Thanks for posting!

TheFlyingCamera · Apr 9, 2009

Reminds me of a Peter Greenberg/Terry Gilliam/HR Geiger version of the cameras I've seen in many tourist areas around the world. You could even do wet plate in that if you wanted to.

tobias · Apr 9, 2009

Ah, but you see, I have only ever seen one of these such cameras, and in the Alinari museum in Florence. Before then, I had no idea that the predecessor of Polaroids had been mobile darkrooms attached to a camera. I am rather fascinated.

tim_walls · Apr 9, 2009

Well, I guess I'm going to have to echo everyone else - I can't help you at all, but I did want to say what a splendid find!

I look forward to finding out more as you do .

TheFlyingCamera · Apr 9, 2009

There are still working street photographers in Mexico, Cuba, Buenos Aires and Madrid doing something like that - I remember watching one in Madrid who was set up in the Plaza Mayor with a wooden box on a tripod that had an old folding camera inset in the front - he would shoot paper negatives, develop them in the box, then put them on a kind of copy rig, and re-photograph them to make his positive, all while you waited.

Stock Dektol · Apr 9, 2009

That's quite the find. I have no idea, like the others.

removed account4 · Apr 9, 2009

there was an early post card type camera called the mandelette .
it had a afixed chemical tank for processing images.
like your camera, it required a direct positive paper,
like those used in modern day photo booths ...
the shutter was snapped, the hand put into the sleeve and dropped into
the tank ( in the case of the mandelette it was below the camera ) ...
it was probably a proprietary monobath developer in the tank ... not sure.
the mandelette looked kind of like a box camera ..
yours is much more interesting, bellows and all

maybe you can find some of that efke direct positive paper,
flash it so the contrast isn't crazy and mix a monobath and see how it works

good luck!

john

Subversive Mk II · Jun 13, 2009

tobias said:
Ah, but you see, I have only ever seen one of these such cameras, and in the Alinari museum in Florence. Before then, I had no idea that the predecessor of Polaroids had been mobile darkrooms attached to a camera. I am rather fascinated.

I recall something of the type being used in seaside resorts in the UK, back in the early 60s. They disappeared soon after, as the market dwindled for nearly instant pics. As Polaroids took hold and the large processing houses became established for holiday film rolls, the prices plummeted, so folk were less inclined to fork out a relatively large amount for pic of them on the Prom.

Subversive Mk II · Jun 13, 2009

Farside said:
I recall something of the type being used in seaside resorts in the UK, back in the early 60s. They disappeared soon after, as the market dwindled for nearly instant pics. As Polaroids took hold and the large processing houses became established for holiday film rolls, the prices plummeted, so folk were less inclined to fork out a relatively large amount for pic of them on the Prom.

Here's something I've just found; a very similar camera in use until recently... http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue8/mchoul.html paragraphs 5 and 6.

TheFlyingCamera · Jun 14, 2009

Farside said:
Here's something I've just found; a very similar camera in use until recently... http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue8/mchoul.html paragraphs 5 and 6.

Funny thing about that article- the author asserts that this street photography via photographing on paper, then re-photographing again on paper to produce a positive may be a uniquely Indian thing, but I myself have seen it being done in Spain and in Latin America in recent years.

identification of a tourist camera

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