NEATO! OLD 35mm RF

[chip j]

https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/jaeger-lecoultre-delightful-compass-35mm-camera-rewind

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Wow. Thanks!

 

[StepheKoontz]

That is a fun camera!

 

[macfred]

Flickr user Roel from the Netherlands has some very nice and detailed pictures to share : https://flic.kr/s/aHsjnBC2qF

 

[AgX]

What is "new" about this old camera? Reading the thread title I thought it was built again...

 

[chip j]

You're right, AgX. I didn't fully read the article. It looked brand new.

 

[AgX]

This is worth reading too (the life of the designer of this camera):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Pemberton_Billing

 

[AgX]

"Only about 4,000 were made", which I find remarkably many, guessing that the clientele for this camera already had a Rolls-Royce and a yacht...

 

[mshchem]

That's astounding! Almost Science Fiction.

 

[GRHazelton]

I'd heard of these little gems, but its nice to see the pictures. If one needs repair, would a watchmaker be the best choice?? Not that I have one, you understand!

 

[removed account4]

wow that is one crazy complicated spy camera !
im guessing you had to have a degree in both
espionogology and cameraology to use that camera !

 

[AgX]

I'd heard of these little gems, but its nice to see the pictures. If one needs repair, would a watchmaker be the best choice??

It was made by one of the oldest watchmaking companies...

 

[AgX]

wow that is one crazy complicated spy camera !
im guessing you had to have a degree in both
espionogology and cameraology to use that camera !

It was not a spy camera. Much too complicated. And too refined.
It was a design to show what is possible within most restricted space. A thing to have in ones cabinet knowing that technically one could use it.
Think of the clockworks of the same manufacturer.

If someone has proof that it actually was used back then, I am eager to know.

 

[nosmok]

Flickr user Roel from the Netherlands has some very nice and detailed pictures to share : https://flic.kr/s/aHsjnBC2qF

If you look at these Flickr photos, they apparently made a stereoscopic head for these cameras-- so maybe some people were expected to buy two? Or maybe it was a prism to get two half frame stereo images on one Compass frame? We may never know...

 

[AgX]

To make stereophotos one does not need two cameras, or an optical attachment. If one can live with the time-paralax one can laterally shift the camera between exposures.

The stereo attachment included at this camera, employed this approach.
A plain lever, attached to the tripod screw at one of his ends and to the center of the underside of the camera at his other end, enabled the photographer to swivel the camera within a second from one position to the opposing on a baseline a bit shorter than the width of the camera.

This lever in his primary function forms the base of the camera by which the camera can be fixed to a tripod without swivelling function.

 

[AgX]

A thing to have in ones cabinet knowing that technically one could use it.
Think of the clockworks of the same manufacturer.

If someone has proof that it actually was used back then, I am eager to know.

Curious about its price back then too.

 

[macfred]

In this article about the Le Coultre Copass camera (German language) they reported the price in 1937 was about 30 Pound Sterling :
https://www.fotointern.ch/archiv/20...technisches-wunderwerk-von-jaeger-le-coultre/

A nice video about:

 

[AgX]

I thought it was more expensive.
In the mid 30's a basic car was at about 160 Pounds


And looking at old ads for the compass it is rather marketed at a camera magazine as a user camera, than as a gadget at a watch shop as I thought.

So I have to adjust my image of the camera uttered above.