Bopp

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Camera industry in Berlin
Agfa | Amigo | Astro Berlin | Bermpohl | Bopp | B+W | Foth | Goerz | Grass & Worff | Levy-Roth | Ernst Lorenz | Plasmat | Rudolph | Rothgiesser & Schlossmann | Rüdersdorf | Schulze & Billerbeck | Sida | Stegemann | Romain Talbot

Gebrüder H. Bopp (Bopp Brothers) of Berlin is known for only one camera, a compact half-frame 35 mm 'Nachtkamera' of about 1938. The camera has a Rüo Optik 40 mm f/1.5 Caleinar cine lens, focusing to 0.5 metre, and a Compur shutter with speeds to 1/250 second. These are mounted on a rather narrow round-ended body with a metallic finish (the notes at Westlicht describe this as nickel).[1] The camera uses normal, perforated 35 mm film, but this is passed from one cassette on the feed side of the film chamber to another on the uptake side (despite this, the camera has both advance and rewind knobs).[1] There is a frame counter on the top plate, counting to about 40. The camera also has a reverse-Galilean viewfinder. There is a tripod bush on the base.

There is a body cap in the rear of the camera, and the pressure-plate is cut out around the image frame, which would allow the camera to be mounted on a lamp-house, to use its lens for enlarging.[1]

The serial numbers of known examples suggest that very few cameras were made.[1][2][3]

The company is probably the same as F.H. Bopp, a precision engineering workshop making gauges etc. at Cöpernicker Strasse 74, Berlin in about 1900 (and which certainly became 'Gebrüder Bopp').[4] There was also a photographic studio 'Gebrüder Bopp' in Innsbruck in the 19th century, almost certainly unrelated.[5]


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Bopp camera with lens serial no. 21507, sold at the 26th Westlicht Photographica Auction (now Leitz Photographica Auction), on 22 November 2014. Several excellent pictures of the camera.
  2. Notes at Westlicht state that McKeown's example (with somewhat fatter advance and rewind knobs) has lens serial no. 21505; see 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). p 147-8.
  3. Bopp camera with lens serial no. 21508, sold at the 34th Leitz Auction. The same camera was previously sold at Christie's Sale 7557, Cameras and Optical Toys, 17 April 1997 in London (no picture).
  4. F.H. Bopp brochure dated about 1900, offering 'Lineale und Parallelstücke' (perhaps parallel strip-stock) as well as precision grinding and component manufacture, in a range of metric sizes, formerly displayed at the Deutsche Historisches Museum: the company name 'F.H. Bopp' was struck out after printing, and 'Gebr. Bopp' stamped in its place.
  5. Carte-de-visite portrait with Gebrüder Bopp imprint, offered for sale at Ebay (item 350766773607).