Vokar I

Vokar I image by Rick Oleson (Image rights)

This article is a stub. You can help Camera-wiki.org by expanding it.

The Vokar I camera had been designed by Richard Bills before WWII, and allegedly the Electronic Products Manufacturing Co. invested $250,000 in its development. But during wartime, the company had diverted its resources into making bomb-fuse components, delaying the camera's manufacture.

In late 1945 the company renamed itself "Vokar" (after its existing line of photo products). The Vokar I camera was first advertised in January, 1946 photography magazines, disappeared for several months, and then finally resurfaced in the fall of 1946 at a price of $76.70.

The camera's sleek styling owed nothing to the boxy Argus C3 manufactued 8 miles away; and for the era, its specification was quite ambitious. It offered single-eyepiece framing and rangefinder focus; shutter cocking coupled to the film advance; an f/2.8 lens (at a time when f/3.5 or f/4.5 were standard); and a full range of shutter speeds from 1 to 1/300 sec.

However the small Vokar Corporation failed to make much of a dent in the US camera market, perhaps due to poor distribution. Sales were poor, and the camera disappeared rather quickly, making it a bit of a rarity today.

Notes

Back of Vokar I; showing oddly chromed internal parts image by Rick Oleson (Image rights)

Earliest advertisement, January 1946 image by scan courtesy Voxphoto (Image rights)