Svensson
Hugo Svensson & Co. was a camera maker based in Gothenburg, Sweden. The company made magazine cameras. Famous owners of Svensson cameras were Arctic explorer Fritjof Nansen and camera maker Victor Hasselblad whose father was distributor of some Svensson cameras (some branded for Hasselblad). In 1966, Hugo Svensson & Co. was bought by Ilford and renamed as Ilford Foto AB.
|
| Stella image by Richard Bugg (Image rights) |
Cameras
- Packtick, c.1917: a copy of the Lopa; T-shaped frame supporting leather sides, with a minimal front housing the lens, shutter and VF. 6x9cm[1][2]
- Svea: wooden 'detective camera'
- Svenska Express, from about 1893 - Svennson's first cameras:[3] a range of falling-plate detective cameras,in 6x9cm, 9x12cm, and 10x15cm sizes, and with a stereo model for twelve 9x18cm plates. Leather-covered wooden box bodies. Multi-speed shutter and aperture stops, but fixed-focus.[3] Sold under the Hasselblad brand.[4] Collector Per-Anders Westman describes the Svenska as a copy of Murer's Express detective cameras, and shows the gold branding on each for comparison.[3]
- Stella, c.1910: a 'folding box camera' for 9x12cm plates, as pictured above. McKeown [5] describes it as a 'compact camera of interesting design'. It has a multi-speed shutter, fixed aperture stops on a wheel (f/8 to f/32), and small reflex finders, with bubble levels, for vertical and horizontal orientation set in the front body (tripod sockets are also rather bravely set in the edges of the front body). There is an adjuster for plates or film (presumably moving the lens a little to correct the focus).[6]
Notes
- ↑ Packtick with 'I' & 'B' shutter, f/11 and f/32 stops, and brilliant finder, sold at the 28th Westlicht Photographica Auction, November 2015.
- ↑ Packtick sold by LP Foto Auktioner in February 2024.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Svensk kamerahistoria: en sammanställning om svensk kameratillverkning, 1860-1990 (Swedish camera history: a compilation of Swedish camera-making, 1860-1990) Per-Anders Westman.
- ↑ Svenska 9x18cm stereo falling-plate camera, 'Hasselblads Stereoscopkamera Svenska', sold by LP Foto Auktioner in May 2022.
- ↑ 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). Page 910
- ↑ Stella also sold by LP Foto Auktioner in May 2022. The leather handle is stamped Hugo Svensson & Co, Goteborg. Kamerafabrik; at least this example is branded for Svennson, not Hasselblad.
