Arnold
Karl Arnold was a camera-maker in Marienberg, Germany. Karl Arnold founded the company in the late 19th century, but the best-known products are several cameras from the 1930s called Karma-Flex (from Karl Arnold MARienberg).[1] These are mostly twin-lens reflex cameras of unusual design, but include one SLR.
Karma-Flex 4x4
The first Karma-Flex cameras are for 127 film, and were made from about 1932. The front of the camera body is a square box with the lens (or lenses) on the front. The film is wound horizontally across the camera body, giving it a widened film compartment at the back.
Model 1 is an SLR, with a folding focusing hood on the top (this does not allow for use as a 'sports' frame-finder). It has a metal guillotine shutter with speeds 1/25 - 1/100 second, and either a Laack Regulyt or Ludwig Vidar lens. Model 2 is very different; it is a pseudo-TLR, built in the same body; the (unidentified) viewing and taking lenses are close together and small (f/11), with fixed focus.[1][2] It has a simple 'I' and 'B' shutter and three fixed apertures.
There are three red windows on the back of the camera; this is presumably to allow for film numbered only 1-8.
Karma-Flex 6x6
The first Karma-Flex 6x6 cm camera, from 1933, is a TLR of comparatively normal design, for 120 film wound vertically through the camera. It has Ludwig viewing and taking lenses, their focus linked with a metal rod, and a focal-plane shutter with speeds 1/25 - 1/500 second, plus 'B'.[1] This camera again has three red windows.
A later model (though McKeown calls it Model 1; a very similar camera was sold as the Karma-Lux) is a pseudo-TLR, little more than a box camera with an elaborate viewfinder (this can be used as a waist-level or eye-level optical finder). The camera has an unidentified f/7.7 lens, and a simple shutter with speeds 1/15 and 1/50 second, plus 'B'.[1] Model 2 is a true TLR. It has Ludwig 75 mm f/3.5 Victar viewing and taking lenses, their focus linked with a rod. The viewing lens forms the front of a viewfinder mounted on the top of a camera body very like the 4x4 cm cameras (not folding down into the body), with the film wound horizontally.[3] The camera has a focal-plane shutter (armed with the large knob on the right side of the camera body) with speeds - 1/500 second, plus 'B'.
Karma-Sport
The Karma-Sport from about 1935 is a development from the Karma-Flex 6x6 model 2; the focusing viewfinder is replaced with a reverse-Galilean viewfinder, making the camera much more compact.[4] An uncoupled rangefinder is also mounted on the top plate. The camera still has a focal-plane shutter. The lens is either a Ludwig Victar, Laack Dialytar or Meyer Trioplan.[1] The camera has a single red window and frame numbers around the winding knob (so the window is probably used only to set the film at frame 1).
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 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). p76-7.
- ↑ Karma-Flex 4x4 model 2 (pseudo-TLR) offered at the May 2012 westlicht Photographica Auction in Vienna.
- ↑ Karma-Flex 6x6 model 2 sold at the November 2004 Westlicht auction.
- ↑ Karma-Sport with a 7.5 cm f/3.5 Trioplan, sold at the [http://westlicht-auction.com/index.php?id=54425&acat=54425&lang=3 May 2006 Westlicht auction.
