Porst

Photo Porst was a German distributor and retailer of many brands of cameras. It was founded in 1919 by Hanns Porst in Nuremberg, Germany. For many years Porst bought cameras to other manufacturers, among which AGFA , Balda,Braun, Dacora, Franka and Adox, and rebadged them. In the early years, t used the Hapo brand, an acronym of Hanns Porst, from the 1930s to the end of the 1950s. Lateron, the house brand cameras appeared under the PORST name, e.g. PORST compact reflex or PORST 135 BS. A lot of these later house-brand cameras were produced by Cosina, but also by Fuji, Yashica, Mamiya or Taron

By 1996, the Porst chain of camera stores was Germany's largest photographic retailer, and in that year it was purchased by a Belgian investment group. In 2001, ownership was transferred to Pixelnet. The following year, the company became insolvent and the rights to the name Porst were sold to the German group Ringfoto.

120 folder

• Hapo 3 (6×9 and 4.5×6), is a Franka Bonafix
• Hapo 3 (6×9 and 4.5×6), is first a Balda Fixfocus then a Franka Rolfix
• Hapo 10 (6×9 and 4.5×6), is first a Balda Fixfocus then a Balda Pontina
• Hapo 45 (6×9 and 4.5×6), is a Balda Pontina
• Hapo 50 (6×9 and 4.5×6), is an Adox Sport
• Hapo 100 (6×9 and 4.5×6), is an Adox Sport
• Hapo 66 (6×6), made by Dacora
• Hapo 66e(6×6), is a Balda Mess-Baldix
• Lisette (4.5×6), is a Balda Baldax (prewar)

127 rigid

• Hapomatic (4×4), is a Braun Paxina Electromatic

35mm rigid

• Hapomat 100
• Hapomat 200
• Haponette
• Haponette B
• Hapo 24, is a Balda Baldina (postwar)
• Hapo 24e, is a Balda Super Baldina (postwar)
• Hapo 36

• Porst LK 500

SLR

• Porst autoflex TL
• Porst compact-reflex
• Porst compact-reflex AM
• Porst compact-reflex SP
• Porst FX4 (=Praktica PL Nova 1B)
• Porst Reflex 500 C (=Mamiya Sekor 500 TL)
• Porst Reflex TL
• Porst Reflex C-TL (=Cosina Hi-Lite HDL)
• Porst Reflex C-TL super (=Cosina Hi-Lite 405)
• Porst CR-1 (=Fujica STX1)
• Porst CR-3
• Porst CR-5
• Porst M-CE (=Chinon CE II Memotron)
• Porst CX-3 (=Praktica LTL)
• Porst CX-4 (=Praktica LB 2)
• Porst CX-6
• Porst OC-N (=Cosina CS-3)

126 film

• Porst lucky

110 film

• Porst Pocketpak 1000
• Porst Pocketpak 2001

subminiature

• Porst EX 55 ELECTRONIC mini-star (=Yashica Atoron Electro)

carena

• another great variety of cameras branded carena was sold by Porst

Bibliography

• McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). Pp. 797–801.

Links

In German:

• The kamera-geschichte.de website has many pages about Photo Porst, among which:
  • Porst rebadged cameras
  • Table of rebadged cameras
  • Porst chronology
• Photo Porst article of the German Wikipedia