Sintex "Camera"

From Camera-wiki.org
Jump to: navigation, search

The Sintex is a large, peculiarly-styled plastic 35mm camera, looking a little like a video camera. The Sintex name does not appear anywhere on the camera, it being simply labelled "Camera" on the canvas bag and lens cap; neither does it admit to any manufacturer or country of origin. It is probably related to the "Olympia" camera variants, and like them, may be intended to look like a more expensive machine than the toy camera or trashcam that it really is.

The lens cap identifies it as a "35mm CAMERA" and having a "f6.3 35mm LENS", and this spec and the look of the lens make it exactly like the "Optical lens" found on many cheap trashcams. Many images (e.g. this one in the Flickr group) show dramatic circular lens flare, possibly due to the flat glass on the front of the lens.

It has motor drive and a built-in electronic flash, both powered by two AA batteries, but has no controls other than an on/off switch and shutter release. The film runs vertically, and it takes portrait-format frames - but the telescope-type viewfinder is square. A second viewfinder is a Watson-type device - whose use in mainstream cameras died out in the 1930s- is rectangular, but landscape format, and mounted on a hinged section supposedly resembling the screen on many video cameras.

Links