Baby Lynx
| Pontiac |
|---|
| Bakélite |
| Bloc Métal 41 |
| Bloc Métal 45 |
| Lynx |
| Super Lynx |
| Baby Lynx |
| Versailles |
The Baby Lynx is a 35mm viewfinder camera launched by the French maker Pontiac in 1948[1] The camera body is cast from aluminium (McKeown notes that aluminium was one material not in short supply in France during the War[2]), with leatherette covering. It has a fixed lens, with front-cell focusing, and a leaf shutter. The lens tube collapses into the camera body when not in use. The camera was the least well-specified and least expensive of the Lynx and Super Lynx cameras; both the Lynx II (also of 1948) and the Super Lynx have a focal-plane shutter.
The Baby Lynx has a reverse-Galilean viewfinder built into the top housing. Also on the top is a frame counter, separate from the winding knob; advancing the film does not cock the shutter.
Production of the camera moved to Morocco in 1951 and stopped in 1954 when the Pontiac company ceased trading.
The usual lens combinations are:
- Berthiot Flor 50/3.5 on Prontor II shutter to 1/200, later to 1/250 (see for example the two following lpfoto auctions: [1] and [2]) This ad shows Berthiot 3.5 or 2.8 with Prontor 1/200 shutter.
- Berthiot Flor 50/2.8 on Prontor S shutter to 1/300
The very last bodies have the Flor 50/3.5 on an Atos 2 shutter to 1/250 with Pontiac Baby Lynx written on the shutter, and brown leather covering.
One example has been observed at an eBay auction with a Boyer Saphir 50/3.5 and a Prontor II 200–1, B, T shutter. This lens variant is also mentioned by P-H Pont.
A cheaper variant called Baby Standard is reported with a Roussel Trylor 50/3.9 three element lens on a Pronto shutter from 1/25 to 1/200.
Notes
- ↑ Both McKeown and Vial say 1950, but a Pontiac advertisement dated 1948, previously visible at Stereocollection, shows the Baby Lynx.
- ↑ 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). p796.
Bibliography
- Vial, Bernard. Histoire des appareils français. Période 1940–1960. Paris: Maeght Éditeur, 1980, re-impressed in 1991. ISBN 2-86941-156-1.
- Pontiac Lynx, Super Lynx, Baby Lynx, Fotofiche 15, Patrice-Hervé Pont, Ed Fotosaga
