Certo KB 24
The KB 24 compact camera, a very simple camera intender for beginners or children, was produced by the German maker Certo-Kamera-Werk of Dresden in the 1960s.
The camera was practically a twin version of the popular Certo SL 100, with nearly the same external appearance. It also used 35 mm film, had 24x24 mm square frame size and was equipped with a 1:11 fixed focus lens, allowing taking pictures from 1.3 m to infinity. The shutter offered just two speeds - 1/30 s (marked with a lightning symbol) and 1/90 s (sun symbol). No other settings were possible.
Black and white or colour films from 16 DIN to 20 DIN were recommended for the camera; the 1/90 s setting was appropriate for 20 DIN films in sunny conditions, while 1/30 s for flash photography, 20 DIN films in cloudy conditions or 16 DIN films in sunny conditions.
The KB 24 was designed for a film loaded in the standard 135 type cassette[1], allowing taking 27 square pictures on a film for 20 standard 24x36 mm frames or 50 pictures on a 36-frame film. The frame counter was of the "countdown" type and blocked the film advance after reaching 0, to prevent the film being torn off from the cassette - thus it had to be appropriately set after loading the film, to 50 in case of the 36-frame film or to 30 with the 20-frame film (both positions were marked with triangles on the frame counter).
An X type flash could be synchronized via a hot shoe.
A pronounced external difference between the KB 24 and SL 100 was presence of a rewind knob on the underside of the KB 24. The camera was loaded from the bottom, after removing the lower body cover. There was no take-up reel, the film was just pushed from a cassette into the take-up chamber, where it rolled freely inside a metal stripe guide. There was no need to unlock the film advance to rewind a finished film, only the rewind knob had to be operated.
The KB 24 could use put-on filters and close up lenses of the 32 mm size.
Notes
- ↑ The advertisement linked below strangely suggests, the camera could use both the 135 type film as well as the Orwo Schnellade spool-less cassettes, while in reality the KB 24 used 135 type cassettes only and the SL 100 - SL cassettes.
Sources
- Certo KB 24 camera manual, 1968.
- Wurst W.: Fotobuch für alle; VEB Fotokinoverlag Leipzig, Leipzig, 1969.