Baby Lynx

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Pontiac
Bakélite
Bloc Métal 41
Bloc Métal 45
Lynx
Super Lynx
Baby Lynx
Versailles

The Baby Lynx was a 35mm leaf shutter camera launched by the French maker Pontiac in 1948 (Vial says 1950, but a Pontiac ad, visible here, shows the Baby Lynx with the date 1948). It was a simpler and less expensive model than the focal plane shuttered Super Lynx. The body in in cast aluminium with leather covering. The lens was fixed, with front cell focusing. The lens and shutter were mounted on a telescopic tube. The film advance was not coupled to the shutter cocking. The production moved to Morocco in 1951 and stopped in 1954 when the Pontiac company disappeared.

The usual lens combinations were:

  • 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 had 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.

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

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