Xyz
The Xyz is a subminiature camera made in France in the 1930s,[1][2] by Lançart of Paris,[1][3] not known for any other cameras. It uses 16mm film,[1][3] with backing paper, and makes exposures 12x15mm.
The body of the camera is metal, with bright silver-coloured plating (perhaps nickel). It has a very rectangular form, with the height, width and depth roughly 68x37x30mm.[1] It is essentially a box camera. The film winder, on the right side, is an octagonal knob in some examples, and a rather crude rectangular bar in others. There is also a small hexagon-headed fitting, presumably the end of the supply spool holder. There is a red window for frame numbers in the back plate. This slides out like a dark-slide to load film.[4] There is a spring pressure-plate attached to it.
The shutter offers only 'I' and 'B' ('P' for Pose).[5] The selector lever is at the bottom-left of the front plate, and the shutter release itself at the bottom right. There are four fixed stops, however, with a selector above the lens. Four different lenses were offered: an f/7.7 Roussel 'Xyzor' achromat; a 21mm f/4.5 Hermagis 'Major' anastigmat; a 20mm f/3.5 Boyer 'Topaz' anastigmat; and a 19mm f/3.5 Roussel 'Kynor' anastigmat. The aperture scale is the same for all the lenses (the same numbers are moulded or stamped into the camera body). It is not clear how this aperture control works (if the largest stop is f/5.1, what good is an f/3.5 lens; and conversely, if the lens is an f/7.7, what good are the stops marked f/5.1 and f/6.6).
The notes at Collection Appareils state that the camera focuses, in two zones. For 0.75 - 2 metres, the camera back should be pulled back slightly, and for longer distances it should be pushed in; they state that the back will only move very slightly. This detail has not been seen anywhere else.
There is a folding Newton finder on the top.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Notes on the Xyz at Collection Appareils. They date the camera to 1934. They spell the maker's name with a cedilla (soft ç, not hard c), and a post about the camera at their forum includes pictures of a box of film, which uses the cedilla.
- ↑ Collectiblend dates the camera to c1935; notes at Submin.com say the mid-20s.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 An undated advertisement reproduced in an Ebay listing gives Lançart's address as 41 bvd Hausmann. It boasts that Gevaert made 'Xyz'-size film for the camera.
- ↑ Seen in Ebay listing photographs.
- ↑ The notes at Submin.com state that 'I' is about 1/25 second.
Links
Examples seen at past auction sales:
- Xyz with octagonal film-advance knob, sold at the First Westlicht Photographica Auction, in November 2002. Very narrow lens; surely the f/7.7 'Xyzor' achromat?
- Xyz with octagonal knob, and f/4.5 Hermagis Major (the listing says Roussel lens, but the lens in the picture is plainly the Major), sold at the Sixth Westlicht Auction, in November 2004.
- Xyz with bar to advance film. Lens resembles the one in the First Westlicht Auction, and engraving on the front is clear; it is the f/7.7 'Xyzor'.
- Xyz with f/4.5 Hermagis Major lens, sold by Christie's in March 2007.
- Xyz with Roussel Kynor lens, sold by Christie's in September 2005 (no photo).
- Xyz with Boyer lens, with two rolls of 'Express Superchrom' film in Xyz size, offered for sale at the 44th Leitz Photographica Auction, in June 2024.
