Iloca Electric
A step too far?
Introduced in 1959 at a price a shade under the Leica M2 and with no name "cachet" Iloca had entered a market far above the one they had been familiar with. The camera was a direct challenge to Robot-Foto's pre-eminence in the motor driven market place with its Robot Royal and Star 2 cameras. In terms of technology, electric drive (the motor was powered by four AA cells and was housed in the take up spool) was far superior to the clockwork drive of the Robots. However the Robot range had a more extensive lens range (8) as opposed to four and a good reliability record and most importantly of all, dominated the industrial and scientific market for this type of camera. The emergence of the Japanese SLR at a similar price could not have helped either.
Pricing and probably size (it was rather on the large side!) killed it stone dead in the European market. In the USA, marketed by Graflex, the price was not so much of an obstacle and it sold better.
In terms of handling, two frames were visible in the viewfinder (135mm
