Okam
Okam was a Czech camera-maker, in the tiny town of Slatiňany. The company was led by Odon Keyzlar, and made several cameras, which mostly carry the name Okam Patent (or perhaps Patent Okam), either on the shutter plate if present, or on a disc on the front. The company became bankrupt in 1929.[1]
Cameras
The cameras are essentially wooden boxes, but with substantial metal parts.
Okam (simple box camera)
- Single 4.5x6cm plates in metal holders.[2]
- Single-speed flap shutter and simple lens.
- Hinged wire-frame finder, with the wire carrying-handle doubling as a sighting aid (other examples seen have a folding finger[3] as the rear sighting aid).
- Brown or black papery leatherette covering.
Okam (box camera with variable shutter)
- Single 4.5x6cm plates in metal holders.
- Shutter plate on the top with speeds 1/5 - 1/1000 second.[4] Winding key for the shutter next to this. The shutter is still apparently a swinging-flap mechanism.[4]
- McKeown states most examples have fixed, focusing Meyer Helioplan 10.5cm f/6 double-anastigmat;[1] some cameras exist with a mount for interchangeable lens.[5]
- Brilliant finders for vertical and horizontal pictures in most examples.[5]
- Leather carrying handle in most examples.
Okam 2x3cm plate-magazine camera
This camera is similar to the early Ful-Vue in appearance; box-shaped, with a large reflex finder on top. However, it holds a stack of 2x3cm plates in a spring-loaded magazine behind the viewfinder.[6] The plate at the front is moved to sit behind the taking lens by pulling a plate-changing handle in the base. After exposure, it remains in the same space, and the next plate moves in front of it. The control plate for the variable shutter is also on the base. České fotoaparáty shows two examples of the camera; the shutter of one seems to offer speeds between 1/20 and 1/1000 second; the other appears to be marked '•0', '•00' and '•000' (perhaps 1/10, 1/100 and 1/1000 second). One of the cameras has an Hermagis Anastigmat Lynx 50mm f/3.5, with focusing; the other appears to have a simpler, fixed-focus lens, behind a metal panel (perhaps to act as a shade).[6] Another example of this model was sold at Westlicht.[7] Another example with a 4cm f/3.5 Goerz Kino-Hypar lens was sold at Christie's.[8]
4.5x6cm plate-magazine camera
České fotoaparáty shows a larger plate-magazine camera, on the same lines as the one described above, but for 4.5x6cm plates.[9] This is the only example of this camera seen so far. The camera has a similar shutter-speed control to the Okam cameras, but on the side of the box. The only other control visible in the pictures is a leather-covered button, which is presumably the shutter release. The plate-changing control is presumably on the base, as on the smaller model, but is not shown in the pictures.
The lens is a focusing Hermagis Anastigmat 75mm f/4.5. There are barn-door flaps in front of this, and a hinged flap above the taking lens, which when lifted holds the barn-doors open, so the three flaps form a hood around the lens.
The camera is branded on the top plate; 'Hl PATENT Oden Keyzlar Červený-Kostelec Č.S.R.'; Červený-Kostelec is about 100 km north of Slatiňany, and this engraving obviously suggests that Keyzlar moved, and this camera is later than the others.
Dioval
This box camera for 4x6.5 exposures on 127 film is branded on the front for 'O. Keyzlar Slatiňany Č.S.R.', rather than for Okam.[10] Perhaps Keyzlar made this camera after the Okam company failed. It is made from a mixture of wooden and metal parts (for example, a metal front plate, but wooden internals for the film chamber) and bakelite-like resin plastic for the film advance and shutter control knobs and the lens barrel.
The camera has an 'I'-and'B' shutter, with the selector above the lens. The lens is a simple one, but focusing. The shutter release is a simple button on the front, with a socket for a cable release beside. The finder is a pull-up wire frame at the front (like the Goerz Baby Box Tengor) and a pull-up metal strip at the rear. The front and all film-chamber internals pull out together for loading, like a Brownie.
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)., p745.
- ↑ Okam simple 4.5x6cm box camera; several examples, at České fotoaparáty.
- ↑ Okam simple box camera in brown finish, with wooden front plate, and with a folding finger rear part to the finder, sold at the 20th Westlicht Photographica Auction, in November 2011.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Okam box camera with variable-speed shutter and fixed Helioplan lens, at České fotoaparáty; two examples shown.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Okam 4.5x6cm box with interchangeable 7.5cm f/4.5 Trioplan, and with folding galilean finder, with leather box case, sold at the 39th Leitz Photographica Auction, on 20 November 2021.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Okam 2x3cm plate magazine camera at České fotoaparáty; several good pictures of the camera.
- ↑ Okam plate-magazine camera (misidentified, surely, as for 4x6.5cm plates) sold at the Eleventh Westlicht Photographica Auction, in May 2007.
- ↑ Okam 2x3cm plate-magazine camera serial 806, with Goerz 4cm f/3.5 Kino-Hypar, sold by Christie's at their Sale 4500 'Subminiature and Spy Cameras', in December 1991.
- ↑ Keyzlar 4.5x6cm plate-magazine camera at České fotoaparáty.
- ↑ Dioval at České fotoaparáty.
