Space cameras - 35mm

[Wallendo]

-) Practica EE2


Dead Link Removed



-) Ansco


-) Contarex

The Ansco Autoset was actually a rebranded Minolta Uniomat. Supposedly, NASA used this camera thinking it was American-made.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Praktina and Pentacon Super were used by Soviets in space, that makes sense as they were the only cameras comparable to Nikon Fs.

They were using many other cameras as well. For official reasons and cosmonauts took some of their own.
This is the list from russian forum threads Dead Link Removed
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:

Leonov Zenit E,

Practica EE2 (DDR space crew member), Leningrad in 1964, Salut S, Kiev-4.
Ajax (KGB) camera, motion film cameras Konvas for Titov, C-97 Leonov.

Also KMZ made special cameras for space programs as "K" series. (Kosmos).

 

[benjiboy]

The Ansco Autoset was actually a rebranded Minolta Uniomat. Supposedly, NASA used this camera thinking it was American-made.

You mean "American made" like the Hasselblad, and the Nikon ones.

 

[cuthbert]

They were using many other cameras as well. For official reasons and cosmonauts took some of their own.
This is the list from russian forum threads Dead Link Removed
Dead Link Removed
:

Leonov Zenit E,

Practica EE2 (DDR space crew member), Leningrad in 1964, Salut S, Kiev-4.
Ajax (KGB) camera, motion film cameras Konvas for Titov, C-97 Leonov.

Also KMZ made special cameras for space programs as "K" series. (Kosmos).

I've read that on the Mir the cosmonauts once used a Kiev 19 as hammer, so I assume that was also used.

Like watches, Soviets were more relaxed regarding regulations on what you could take in orbit and what not.

 

[nosmok]

According to the official-- or maybe just officious-- Leica Museum blog, John Glenn took the 1st photo taken by an American astronaut in space with a Leica Ig that had a special viewfinder he could stick to his helmet visor. It appears that everything short of a Deardorff has been used in space by somebody. The Ansco/Minolta is obviously the poor astronaut's Hassy .

 

[wiltw]

Olympus OM-1 for NASA, c. 1980 http://elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com/2016/06/olympus-om-1-nasa-recognition-of.html
which mentions that the camera was used to get pictures during the Space Shuttle missions (scheduled to be carried out from April 12, 1981, with the launching of Space Shuttle Columbia and the subsequent ones at the Goddart Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, 10.5 km in the northeast of Washington D.C ), both throughout the photographic tests and learning of techniques on ground and inside the aircraft in flight.

One of five when to auction in November 2015, and a letter of provenance was described, "a letter signed by Terry L. Walpole, dated May 28, 2009, stating, in full:

"OLYMPUS OM-1 CAMERA BODY FACTORY MODIFIED FOR NASA. Years ago, I was a sales manager for Ponder & Best, the original marketer and distributor for Olympus Photo products in the U.S. We introduced the OM Series of Cameras to the US market. While Olympus subsequently went direct and, P&B became Vivitar, prior to that I worked with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to supply 35 mm cameras to the Goddard Space Flight Center for the Shuttle Missions, We had the Olympus factory modify 5 OM bodies with special, non-outgassing paints and lubricants, supplied by NASA, and the leatherette was not installed.. Three were delivered to Goddard, one went to the P&B product Manager and I retained one. The camera has never had film put through it, and is in mint condition. I have the leatherette, but no focusing screen as the camera was to be used in the mirror-locked mode."​