Calypso
The Calypso is a self-contained 35mm film camera designed for use under water manufactured in France by Atoms to a design of Jean De Wouters. It was conceived by the famous marine explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910—1997), named after the research vessel he was using from 1950, and distributed 1960—1962 by Spirotechnique[1], a small firm he had established, dealing in underwater equipment.
The camera body consists of two main parts being locked together by mounting the lens on the camera and sealed by silicon greased O-rings. The lens is removed by pulling and twisting it either way in the bayonet mount. The focal plane shutter has vertical running metal plates, initially manufactured with speeds from 1/30 to 1/1000sec, but from 1/15 to 1/500sec a year later. The camera is operated by a combined wind-on and shutter release lever, and is provided with a flash sync connector and an automatic resetting frame counter, both situated at the camera base. The standard lens fitted was a SOM Berthiot 1:3.5 f=35 with knobs on either side for setting focusing distance and lens aperture, suitable for both under and above water photographing due to the optically flat front glass. The lens has no filter thread. In some ads it was advertised as the “CALYPSO-PHOT”.
For various reasons the design was sold to Nippon Kōgaku (Nikon) who reintroduced it as the Nikonos in 1963. Nikon continued developing it and subsequently launched Nikonos-II, -III, -IV and -V, and culminating by introducing the 35mm SLR Nikonos RS (1992—1996).
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