Ansco

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Ansco was an American manufacturer of camera equipment and film in Binghamton, New York.

In the 19th century its predecessor E. & H.T. Anthony Co. was the largest distributor of photography supply in the U.S.A.. It started in 1841 or 1842 as daguerreotype gallery Edward Anthony in New York and expanded its activity becoming photography supplier in 1847. In 1852 Edward Anthony's brother Henry T. joined. In 1870 the company started making cameras. The company was the first to patent a roll-film holder that could be loaded in light[1].


In 1902 it was merged with Scovill & Adams into Anthony & Scovill, this name being abbreviated to Ansco. Ansco took over film maker Goodwin, photo paper maker Columbia and the American Photo Products Co.. Then it was acquired by Agfa of Germany in 1928, becoming known as Agfa Ansco (this was a productive period, resulting in many cameras covered in their own article). In addition to new imports and licensing of Agfa products, Ansco also built a new film factory, and in 1939 was renamed General Aniline & Film (GAF). With the entry of the US into WWII, Agfa Ansco was placed under control of the US "Alien Property Custodian," and by 1943 cameras were sold once again simply as Ansco. During the war years production shifted to sextants and military optical rangefinders, and ultimately it was sold as an "enemy asset".

After WWII the company reached its peak as camera maker, with a production of 2 million cameras per year. Beginning in the 1950s Ansco shifted to selling rebadged imports, made by Agfa, Chinon, Ricoh and even Minolta. In 1967 the company began selling its film and cameras under the brand GAF (General Aniline & Film). Then in 1978, Haking of Hong Kong acquired the rights to the Ansco trademark. Simple plastic cameras bearing the Ansco brand after this point are almost certainly Haking products; and typically have "twins" under the Halina and Haking names.

Ansco cameras continued to be made until the 1990s by Haking, while GAF became Anitec. In 1992 Anitec celebrated the company's 150th anniversary. It became part of a group which was taken over by Kodak. The factory in Binghamton was closed in 1998 and demolished in 2000.

The Ansconian

From the 1920s through the 1960s, Ansco published a photographic magazine called The Ansconian. The magazine was the descendent of the Anthony Photographic Journal, published by Ansco's predecessor, the E. & H.T. Anthony Co.[2]

Anthony cameras

Ansco cameras


35mm film

116 film

116 Box Cameras

116 Folding Cameras


118 film

  • Ansco No. 3 folding cameras
    • No. 3 Junior
    • No. 3 Folding
    • No. 3 Speedex


120 film

120 Box Cameras

120 Folding Cameras

120 Solid Body Cameras

122 film

127 film

130 film

  • Ansco No. 2C Junior

616 film

620 film

110 film

Non-standard 35mm film

Sheet film

Disc film

Presumably all manufactured by Haking; equivalent Halina/Haking models may exist

  • Ansco 105, Ansco 105 Telephoto
  • Ansco 310
  • Ansco 320
  • Ansco 330
  • Ansco 340
  • Ansco 350
  • Ansco 370
  • Ansco 380 Telephoto
  • Ansco 412 Tele-Flash
  • Ansco Cadet 100
  • Ansco Disc 103
  • Ansco Fiesta, Ansco Fiesta Tele
  • Ansco HR10, Ansco Memo HR10, Ansco HR10T
  • Ansco HR15
  • Ansco HR20
  • Ansco HR25
  • Ansco HR30
  • Ansco HR40
  • Ansco HR50
  • Ansco HR65
  • Ansco Ready Flash VR1

GAF cameras

Including Ascomatic models: See article GAF

Notes

  1. Coe, Brian, Cameras - from Daguerreotypes to Instant Pictures, Marshall-Cavendish Editions, 1978, p.80
  2. Bill Ryan at Ansco

Links

In English:

In French: