Difference between revisions of "Folding"

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''For a list of folding cameras, see [[:Category: Folding]].''
 
''For a list of folding cameras, see [[:Category: Folding]].''
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{|
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{{Flickr_image
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|image_source= http://www.flickr.com/photos/24225011@N04/2538923990/in/pool-camerawiki
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|image= http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2229/2538923990_5775f5b327_t.jpg
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|image_align=
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|image_text= <small>Horizontal ([[Nixette]])</small>
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{{Flickr_image
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|image_source= http://www.flickr.com/photos/89864432@N00/428402199/in/pool-camerawiki
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|image= http://farm1.static.flickr.com/177/428402199_7ea0416bd2_t.jpg
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|image_align=
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|image_text= <small>Vertical ([[Kershaw Eight-20 Penguin|Penguin]])</small>
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}}
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|}
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</div>
  
A '''folding camera''', or '''folder''', is a camera with [[bellows]] that can be folded to occupy less space when not in use. Not all bellows cameras can be called folding: a monorail [[view camera]] has bellows, but it cannot be folded and instead provides flexibility for "movements" (as well as allowing some compression for relative ease of transportation). The more sophisticated press cameras (like the [[Busch]] Pressman<!--, see [http://www.vintagephoto.tv/busch4by5.shtml]-->) are both in one: bellows camera (for shifts and tilts) and folding camera (for compactness).  
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A '''folding camera''', or '''folder''', is a camera with [[bellows]] that can be folded so that the camera occupies less space when not in use. Exceptions without bellows are a few old camera designs which were foldable due to a set of hinges, for example foldable variants of the [[sliding box camera]] by [[Charles Chevalier]] and Thomas Ottewill (more accurately described as "collapsible [[box camera]]" instead of folding camera), or other special designs with a bellows replacement like the [[Minolta Vest]]. Many folding cameras allow variations of their bellows' length, thus making the bellows also the means for focusing.
  
A small number of folding cameras designed for shifts and tilts sacrifice portability for flexibility. However, the great majority of folding cameras force the lens board and image plane to be parallel, and the lens and image frame to centre on an axis perpendicular to these two planes. This reduces the function of the bellows to saving of space.
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Not all bellows cameras can be called folding: a [[monorail view camera]] has bellows, but it cannot be folded (at least not "folded into itself") and instead provides greater flexibility for "movements". Other [[large format]] view cameras are foldable, known as [[field camera]]s for their portability.
  
The scope of the term ''folding camera'' is unclear. While there is no dispute that the [[Agfa PB 20]] is a folding camera, cameras such as the [[Plaubel Makina]] that employ bellows and hinges to collapse when not in use, but for which neither the lens assembly or its cover is hinged in relation to the body, are regarded by some people as ''strut folding'' cameras, but are regarded by others as not folding cameras.
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Some [[press camera]]s (like the [[Busch Pressman Model D]]) allow tilts and shifts but also fold for compactness. However, the great majority of folding cameras force the lens board and image plane to be parallel (no tilts), and force the lens and image frame to centre on an axis perpendicular to these two planes (no shifts). This reduces the function of the bellows to the saving of space.
  
Putting aside strut folders (if they are indeed folders), we can divide folders into two. A minority, exemplified by the [[Voigtländer Vitessa]], have "barn doors": a symmetrical pair of doors. The others have a single door. A distinction is sometimes drawn between whether the bed hinges vertically or horizontally, but other than for square format (e.g. 6&times;6) cameras, normally only held in one way, this distinction too is ambiguous as it is not clear what "vertical" and "horizontal" mean. The great majority of 6&times;6 folders have the bed for the lensboard below the lens assembly when the camera is held in the normal way; the great majority of 4.5&times;6 and 6&times;9 folders have the bed for the lensboard at one side or other of the lens, rather than below it, when the camera is held so that film goes from one side to the other.
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''Strut folding cameras'' are folding cameras, but some people classify them separately, not as "folding cameras". While Folding bed cameras and self-erecting folding cameras have all or nearly all camera parts covered by itself when folded, the most strut folding cameras leave lens and some mechanical parts unprotected when folded. This disadvantage is sometimes equalised by the advantage of the extreme compactness of a folded strut folder, for example the [[Ensignette]] or the [[Contessa-Nettel Nettix|Nettix]].
  
The following description is necessarily simplified.
 
  
The typical rollfilm folding camera of the 1920s needs to have its lens assembly pulled out when the bed is hinged open. The leaf shutter has a small lever for cocking and another for firing; it also allows a cable release to be screwed in. (The screw dimensions are the same as those used in those of today's cameras.) Film is advanced with a key or knob; one stops winding when the new number appears in a red or orange window on the back. There is no rangefinder, and the only viewfinder is a swivelling [[brilliant finder]] attached to the front of the lens. There is no pressure plate to hold the film in the right plane.
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Putting aside strut folders (indeed they are folders), we can divide folders into two. A very small minority, exemplified by the [[Voigtländer Vitessa]], have "barn doors": a symmetrical pair of doors. The others have a single door. A distinction is often drawn according to whether the bed hinges "vertically" or "horizontally" (that is, if the camera's longest dimension is vertical or horizontal when the bed is unfolded towards the bottom). The great majority of 6&times;6 folders are horizontal folders; the great majority of 4.5&times;6 and 6&times;9 folders are vertical folders.
  
Its successor of the 1930s is self-erecting: as one unhinges the bed, the lens pops forward. (It may be necessary to pull it a little further, so that it clicks into position.) The brilliant finder is supplemented by some other viewfinder, also very rudimentary even by the standards of the 1950s. There may be a mask to allow a choice between two formats (e.g. 4.5&times;6 and 6&times;9).
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== Development ==
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{|class=floatright
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{{Flickr_image
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|image_source= http://www.flickr.com/photos/alf_sigaro/299558519/in/pool-camerawiki
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|image= http://farm1.static.flickr.com/113/299558519_a0a56278d4_t.jpg
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|image_align= right
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|image_text= <small>self-erecting [[Belfoca]]</small>
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}}
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|-
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{{Flickr_image
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|image_source= http://www.flickr.com/photos/7817210@N03/975987567/in/pool-camerawiki
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|image= http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1126/975987567_658d5a8de0_t.jpg
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|image_align= right
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|image_text= <small>1953 [[Franka Solida]]</small>
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}}
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|}
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The early folding cameras were compact amateur [[view camera]]s, plate cameras of the [[folding bed camera|folding bed]] type and predecessors like the [[Lucidograph]]. Other than common view cameras the whole camera was securely enclosed in its body when folded.
  
By the 1950s, the brilliant finder is gone and a viewfinder, perhaps with integrated rangefinder, is under a rigid housing. The shutter still needs to be cocked, but the shutter release is now on the body. There is certainly a film pressure plate; either this has one or more holes for red windows, or there are no holes and no red windows as film advance is semi-automatic. The lens is focussed in one of three ways:
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At the end of the 19th century the first renowned strut folding cameras were designed, for example the [[Goerz Anschütz Ango|Ango]] and the [[Folding Pocket Kodak]].
* the frontmost element alone is moved ("front-cell focussing"): optically the least satisfactory solution and normal in cheap cameras, but sometimes used for expensive and highly regarded cameras too
 
* all the elements of the lens are moved forward and backward together ("unit focussing"): this can be achieved by mounting the lens and shutter assembly on an helical ("helicoid focussing"<!--or "helical focusing"?-->), or on a strut that moves along a rail or is displaced in some other way<!--(see the Certo 6, some Voigtländer models like the Bessa II, etc.)-->
 
* the film is moved forward and back while the lens is kept stationary ("film-plane focussing"): the least common of the three systems
 
  
There have been folding cameras in all kinds of format, from 18&times;24 mm to at least 18&times;24 cm.
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The typical rollfilm folding camera of the 1910s/1920s is a [[folding bed camera]] like the [[Conley Folding Kewpie No. 2]] or the [[No. 3A Autographic Kodak Junior]]. Its lens assembly needs to be pulled out along the rails on its opened hinged front door. The [[leaf shutter]] has a small lever for firing and maybe another for cocking; it also allows a [[cable release]] to be screwed in. (The screw dimensions are the same as those used in those of today's cameras.) Film is advanced with a key or knob; one stops winding when the new number appears in a [[red window]] on the back. There is no rangefinder, and the only viewfinder is a swivelling [[brilliant finder]] attached to the front of the lens. There is no pressure plate to hold the film in the right plane.
  
{|
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Its successor of the 1930s is ''self-erecting'': as one unlocks the front door, the lens pops forward. (It may be necessary to pull it a little further at the lens standard, so that it clicks into position.) The brilliant finder is supplemented by some other viewfinder, many very rudimentary even by the standards of the 1930s. There may be a mask inside to allow a choice between two formats (e.g. 4.5&times;6 and 6&times;9). Sophisticated models might include a [[rangefinder]], some even a coupled one. A sample is the [[Kodak Junior 620]].
| colspan=3 | '''common folding cameras'''
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By the 1950s, the brilliant finder is gone and a viewfinder, perhaps with integrated [[rangefinder (device)|rangefinder]], is under a rigid housing. The shutter still needs to be cocked, but the shutter release is now on the body. There is certainly a film pressure plate; either this has one or more holes for red windows, or there are no holes and no red windows as film advance is semi-automatic. The lens is focused in one of three ways:
 +
* the frontmost element alone is moved ("front-cell focusing"): optically the least satisfactory solution and normal in cheap cameras, but sometimes used for expensive and highly regarded cameras too
 +
* all the elements of the lens are moved forward and backward together ("unit focusing"): this can be achieved by mounting the lens and shutter assembly on an helical ("helicoid focusing"<!--or "helical focusing"?-->), or on a strut that moves along a rail or is displaced in some other way<!--(see the Certo 6, some [[Voigtländer]] models like the Bessa II, etc.)-->
 +
* the film is moved forward and back while the lens is kept stationary ("film-plane focusing"): the least common of the three systems
 +
The Agfa [[Isolette]] cameras are typical 1950s folders.
 +
 
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By the 1970s a new kind of folder became popular among the better-off, the instant SLR camera [[Polaroid_SX-70]]. The 1980s brought a bellows-less "folding" conception represented by the [[Minox 35]] and others, belonging more to the class of modern [[compact camera]]s than to the "folding cameras".
 +
 
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There have been folding cameras for a wide range of image formats, from 18&times;24 mm to 18&times;24 cm.
 +
 
 +
===folder types, overview===
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{|class=plainlinks
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| colspan=4 | '''common folding cameras'''
 
| colspan=2 | '''special folding cameras'''
 
| colspan=2 | '''special folding cameras'''
 
|-
 
|-
|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/89864432@N00/186689148/in/pool-camerapedia/ http://static.flickr.com/71/186689148_48cc1cbc5d_t.jpg] <br/> a folding bed camera ...
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|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebollo_fr/342695513/in/pool-camerawiki http://farm1.static.flickr.com/165/342695513_785bee4e88_t.jpg] <br/> a folding bed camera,<br/>vertical variant, ...
|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/89864432@N00/149845564/in/pool-camerapedia/ http://static.flickr.com/47/149845564_a2157dad10_t.jpg] <br/> ''a strut folding camera ...''
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|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebollo_fr/245332576/in/pool-camerawiki http://farm1.static.flickr.com/85/245332576_b61acb870a_t.jpg] <br/> horizontal<br/>self-erecting folder, ...
|| <!-- <br/> ''reserved for ...'' -->
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|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/89864432@N00/149845564/in/pool-camerawiki http://farm1.static.flickr.com/47/149845564_ca84cb869b_t.jpg] <br/> ''a strut folding<br/>camera ...''
|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/erichz/97255477/in/pool-camerapedia/ http://static.flickr.com/39/97255477_68678572b7_t.jpg] <br/> modern Polaroid, <br/> unfolded
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|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/justincormack/197218063/in/pool-camerawiki http://farm1.static.flickr.com/74/197218063_e185d28487_t.jpg] <br/> foldability of<br/>view cameras ...
|| <!-- <br/> ''reserved for repro camera''-->
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|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebollo_fr/468406549/in/pool-camerawiki http://farm1.static.flickr.com/194/468406549_9ea466a1c3_t.jpg] <br/> strut folder<br/>with ...
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|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/framerkat/3508606252/in/pool-camerawiki http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3388/3508606252_d1aa9bc86e_t.jpg] <br/> press camera,<br/>folded
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|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/89864432@N00/230223933/in/pool-camerawiki http://static.flickr.com/76/230223933_14303e20b6_t.jpg] <br/> barn door folder,<br/>unfolded
 
|-
 
|-
|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/89864432@N00/186689140/in/pool-camerapedia/ http://static.flickr.com/75/186689140_e93cc17e1b_t.jpg] <br/> ... unfolded, hinged <br/> lid flapped aside
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|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebollo_fr/342689711/in/pool-camerawiki http://farm1.static.flickr.com/124/342689711_e44bc8378d_t.jpg] <br/> ... unfolded, hinged<br/>lid flapped down
|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/89864432@N00/149850818/in/pool-camerapedia/ http://static.flickr.com/51/149850818_d8b45e2048_t.jpg] <br/> ''...unfolded''
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|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebollo_fr/245332574/in/pool-camerawiki http://farm1.static.flickr.com/92/245332574_84d4ff4ce5_t.jpg] <br/> ... unfolded
|| <!-- <br/> ''... barn door folder'' -->
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|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/89864432@N00/149850818/in/pool-camerawiki http://static.flickr.com/51/149850818_d8b45e2048_t.jpg] <br/> ''... unfolded''
|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/89864432@N00/207294545/in/pool-camerapedia/ http://static.flickr.com/52/207294545_fb38bfc6f1_t.jpg] <br/> press camera, folded
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|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/justincormack/197217077/in/pool-camerawiki http://farm1.static.flickr.com/62/197217077_6241e2129e_t.jpg] <br/> ... looks less smart
|| <!-- <br/> ''reserved for other folder'' -->
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|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebollo_fr/468406509/in/pool-camerawiki http://farm1.static.flickr.com/203/468406509_c608bd24b9_t.jpg] <br/> ... other folding<br/>mechanism
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|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/captkodak/271857657/in/pool-camerawiki http://farm1.static.flickr.com/85/271857657_bf8498d261_t.jpg] <br/> other press camera,<br/>unfolded
 +
|| [http://www.flickr.com/photos/erichz/97255477/in/pool-camerawiki http://static.flickr.com/39/97255477_68678572b7_t.jpg] <br/> modern Polaroid,<br/>unfolded
 
|}
 
|}
  
===Links===
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==Links==
 +
*[http://www.vintage-cameras.com/html/les_foldings1.html folding cameras]
 
*[http://licm.org.uk/livingImage/BellowsCamera.html bellows cameras]
 
*[http://licm.org.uk/livingImage/BellowsCamera.html bellows cameras]
 
*[http://www.xs4all.nl/~lommen9/index.html press cameras]
 
*[http://www.xs4all.nl/~lommen9/index.html press cameras]
 +
*[http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=2098901 Ottewill's foldable box camera] at Christie's
  
 
[[Category: Folding|*]]
 
[[Category: Folding|*]]
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[[Category:Bellows cameras]]
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[[Category: Camera architecture]]

Revision as of 05:30, 14 July 2014

For a list of folding cameras, see Category: Folding.

A folding camera, or folder, is a camera with bellows that can be folded so that the camera occupies less space when not in use. Exceptions without bellows are a few old camera designs which were foldable due to a set of hinges, for example foldable variants of the sliding box camera by Charles Chevalier and Thomas Ottewill (more accurately described as "collapsible box camera" instead of folding camera), or other special designs with a bellows replacement like the Minolta Vest. Many folding cameras allow variations of their bellows' length, thus making the bellows also the means for focusing.

Not all bellows cameras can be called folding: a monorail view camera has bellows, but it cannot be folded (at least not "folded into itself") and instead provides greater flexibility for "movements". Other large format view cameras are foldable, known as field cameras for their portability.

Some press cameras (like the Busch Pressman Model D) allow tilts and shifts but also fold for compactness. However, the great majority of folding cameras force the lens board and image plane to be parallel (no tilts), and force the lens and image frame to centre on an axis perpendicular to these two planes (no shifts). This reduces the function of the bellows to the saving of space.

Strut folding cameras are folding cameras, but some people classify them separately, not as "folding cameras". While Folding bed cameras and self-erecting folding cameras have all or nearly all camera parts covered by itself when folded, the most strut folding cameras leave lens and some mechanical parts unprotected when folded. This disadvantage is sometimes equalised by the advantage of the extreme compactness of a folded strut folder, for example the Ensignette or the Nettix.


Putting aside strut folders (indeed they are folders), we can divide folders into two. A very small minority, exemplified by the Voigtländer Vitessa, have "barn doors": a symmetrical pair of doors. The others have a single door. A distinction is often drawn according to whether the bed hinges "vertically" or "horizontally" (that is, if the camera's longest dimension is vertical or horizontal when the bed is unfolded towards the bottom). The great majority of 6×6 folders are horizontal folders; the great majority of 4.5×6 and 6×9 folders are vertical folders.

Development

The early folding cameras were compact amateur view cameras, plate cameras of the folding bed type and predecessors like the Lucidograph. Other than common view cameras the whole camera was securely enclosed in its body when folded.

At the end of the 19th century the first renowned strut folding cameras were designed, for example the Ango and the Folding Pocket Kodak.

The typical rollfilm folding camera of the 1910s/1920s is a folding bed camera like the Conley Folding Kewpie No. 2 or the No. 3A Autographic Kodak Junior. Its lens assembly needs to be pulled out along the rails on its opened hinged front door. The leaf shutter has a small lever for firing and maybe another for cocking; it also allows a cable release to be screwed in. (The screw dimensions are the same as those used in those of today's cameras.) Film is advanced with a key or knob; one stops winding when the new number appears in a red window on the back. There is no rangefinder, and the only viewfinder is a swivelling brilliant finder attached to the front of the lens. There is no pressure plate to hold the film in the right plane.

Its successor of the 1930s is self-erecting: as one unlocks the front door, the lens pops forward. (It may be necessary to pull it a little further at the lens standard, so that it clicks into position.) The brilliant finder is supplemented by some other viewfinder, many very rudimentary even by the standards of the 1930s. There may be a mask inside to allow a choice between two formats (e.g. 4.5×6 and 6×9). Sophisticated models might include a rangefinder, some even a coupled one. A sample is the Kodak Junior 620.

By the 1950s, the brilliant finder is gone and a viewfinder, perhaps with integrated rangefinder, is under a rigid housing. The shutter still needs to be cocked, but the shutter release is now on the body. There is certainly a film pressure plate; either this has one or more holes for red windows, or there are no holes and no red windows as film advance is semi-automatic. The lens is focused in one of three ways:

  • the frontmost element alone is moved ("front-cell focusing"): optically the least satisfactory solution and normal in cheap cameras, but sometimes used for expensive and highly regarded cameras too
  • all the elements of the lens are moved forward and backward together ("unit focusing"): this can be achieved by mounting the lens and shutter assembly on an helical ("helicoid focusing"), or on a strut that moves along a rail or is displaced in some other way
  • the film is moved forward and back while the lens is kept stationary ("film-plane focusing"): the least common of the three systems

The Agfa Isolette cameras are typical 1950s folders.

By the 1970s a new kind of folder became popular among the better-off, the instant SLR camera Polaroid_SX-70. The 1980s brought a bellows-less "folding" conception represented by the Minox 35 and others, belonging more to the class of modern compact cameras than to the "folding cameras".

There have been folding cameras for a wide range of image formats, from 18×24 mm to 18×24 cm.

folder types, overview

Links