Elax

From Camera-wiki.org
Revision as of 23:19, 25 August 2006 by Rebollo fr (talk | contribs) (Bibliography: bib template)
Jump to: navigation, search

The Elax was a folding 3x4 camera, using 127 film, made by the French maker Lumière from 1931 or 1933 (depending on the source). It had an unusual focal plane shutter with rigid metal curtains, from 4s to 1/1000 with self-timer. At the time, the Foth Derby was another example of folding 3x4 focal plane shutter camera. The Elax had a Berthiot Flor 50/3.5 four element lens with helical focusing. Its viewfinder is said to be bought to Leitz, and was apparently the same as the Leica I but vertically oriented. The Elax had a knob advance and later a lever advance. The first part of the course winds the shutter, then it advances the film and you have to stop when the correct number appears in the red windows. The Elax had a black finish, and is a very rare camera.

The Elax II, was the postwar version of the Elax, in chrome finish with the lever advance. It is yet rarer, it is said only fifteen were produced, maybe in 1946 (but McKeown says 1949-1951).

Other 3x4cm French cameras were the Pontiac Lynx and the Gallus Derlux (based on the Foth Derby).

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

Links