Hacon
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| image by Jörg Krüger (Image rights) |
The Hacon is a compact viewfinder camera, a bakelite camera, made ca. 1950, by Hahn & Co. in Zirndorf, for Nuremberg-based camera-maker Genos, or vice-versa by Genos for Hahn, whatever the case may have been. Genos was the company which had been Norisan before WWII. The Hacon resembles Norisan's pre-war "Nori" cameras for type 828 film, but has a modern shutter release button instead of the Noris' near-the-lens shutter release lever. Obviously "Hacon" is a name derived from "Hahn & Co.", a company based in Zirndorf. The Hacon's direct predecessor may have been the camera model Ernos of Genos, still with shutter release lever but with a similar simple f/8 lens, made ca. 1949.[1] Finally the Hacon was also produced under the type name Genos.[2]
On top of the lens barrel is a lever to switch between T and B mode, marked as "M" and "Z" - M is for "moment" (meaning ca. 1/30 sec.) an Z for "Zeit" (German word for "time"). The lens is a simple "Optik 1:8", meaning lens speed is f/8 - focal length maybe 35mm. On top it has a kind of optical finder in the middle, nearby the shutter release button, and on one side the film winding knob. Made for rollfilm of type 828. It even has a 3/8" tripod thread in the bottom. And last not least a red eye aka film advance control window in its back. The latter is removeable to open the camera for film exchange. Frame size is 25×25mm.
