Acro Model R

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The Model R (identified on the box, as in the advertisement below, as the Model R Candid Camera) is a half-frame (i.e. 3x4 cm) uncoupled-rangefinder camera for 127 film, made by Acro of Chicago, circa 1940. It makes sixteen pictures on a roll of film. It has a plastic body, of a type similar to many 'minicams' made by companies of the Chicago cluster, but with a rather better lens and shutter unit than those cameras, mounted on a metal plate screwed to the front.

The camera has a two-inch lens, either an f/4.5 Acro Anastigmat or a Wollensak f/3.5.[1] The lens has unit focusing and is scaled down to 3 feet. The shutter is an everset (self-cocking) in-lens type, giving speeds 1/25 - 1/200 plus 'B' and 'T'. It has a socket to accept a cable release.

The split-image rangefinder is a metal unit fastened to the top of the camera. It houses a reverse-Galilean viefinder (separate from the rangefinder), and an extinction-type lightmeter. there is a calculator dial for interpretation of the meter reading on top of the unit.

There are two red windows on the back, with a rotating disc cover (two, because 127 film is only numbered 1-8; each number is wound into each of the two windows, to give sixteen exposures).

There is also an Arco Model V which has the same lens and shutter unit (though McKeown lists the Model V only with the Arco lens[1]) but has only a viewfinder on the top, no rangefinder or lightmeter.

McKeown notes the similarity of the cameras to Detrola 3x4 cm viewfinder cameras (the Detrola Model G, Model H and Model K).[1]




Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). p7.


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