Wilca Automatic
The Wilca Automatic is a subminiature camera, for 10x14mm exposures on 16mm film, in special cassettes giving 24 exposures.[1] It was designed by the Swedish Erik Wilkenson in about 1958, but made in Germany from about 1961. Wilca A.B. used the bankrupt Apparate & Kamerabau's factory to make the camera. It has a Wilcalux Filtra 16mm f/2 lens and Prontor shutter. The shutter is synchronised for flash, with a PC socket on the back of the camera; there is no accessory shoe, however. The camera has a galilean viewfinder with frame lines. It has lever film advance, with a frame counter by the lever. It has a selenium meter, which shows its readout in a dial on the top. There is a single exposure adjustment - a knurled wheel exposed at the bottom of the camera - which adjusts the shutter and aperture together (in a 'program').[2] The set exposure is also shown in the meter dial, allowing match-needle metering.
McKeown states that only about 20 copies of the camera were made.[1]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 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)., p999.
- ↑ German Patent 1802048 of 1959, Photographische Kamera Mit Belichtungsmesser, granted to Erik Alvar Wilkenson, at Espacenet, the patent search facility of the European Patent Office.
Links
- Wilca Automatic serial no. 600115, offered for sale at the 40th Leitz Photographica Auction. Several pictures of the camera, apparently a dealer's display model, offered with a stand.
- Wilca Automatic at submin.com
