Compass
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| Compass Camera - lens extended By ebayer Old_devil, used by permission.(Image rights) |
The Compass Camera was made by watch-makers Le Coultre et Cie in Switzerland, in c.1937 for London firm Compass Cameras. It was a rectangular aluminium-bodied rangefinder camera, made for 24x36mm exposures on plates. With the lens closed, it was only 30 × 53 × 70mm in size. There was a back available for special 8-exposure films, and later also an 828 roll film back, made by T. A. Cubitt. About 5000 were made before production was prevented by war.[1]
The Compass was extraordinarily well-equipped for such a small package; it had two optical viewfinders, one at a right-angle, a ground glass focusing screen with a folding loupe, a built-in lens cap, three filters, an extinction meter and a spirit level. There was also a rotating fitting for the tripod bush in the base with five click stops allowing for panoramic and stereo pictures.
The retractable lens was a 35mm f3.5 Kern anastigmat; shutter speeds from 4.5secs to 1/500.
The Compass was available in a kit, which could include a small, elegant tripod, fitted with a pocket clip, a cable-release, a small leather case or a larger fitted box taking the accessories.
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Compass Camera - by ebayer Old_devil, used by permission.(Image rights) | |||||
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| Compass by Rick Soloway |
Links / Sources
- Compass camera on submin.com
- Compass on ukcamera.com
- ↑ Coe, Brian, "Cameras, from Daguerreotypes to Instant Pictures", p.128, Marshall-Cavendish/Nordbok 1978; Coe's drawing shows an example labelled in German; from casual observation, this seems to be unusual, and most are in English, but submin.com shows German and French, as well as the majority English models.
