Box camera
A box camera , also known as a box camera, is a particularly simple camera for roll films . This type of camera was available from 1900 to 1970 and was popular until the mid-1950s.
Emergence
Kodak # 1 and # 2
Kodak brought out a camera in 1888 with the Kodak No. 1 in order to be able to sell its newly launched roll film. This camera was of a simple construction in order to appeal to technically inexperienced interested parties. The camera neither had to be unfolded nor adjusted to any of the input options. This was even more true of the successor Kodak No. 2 from 1901.
While No. 1 was still exposing circular images, No. 2 produced rectangular negatives in the format 21/4 ″ × 31/4 ″, which corresponded to 6 cm × 9 cm. Another new feature of No. 2 was the cardboard housing material , which had not yet been used in camera manufacture. In contrast to the expensive No. 1, this device could be offered at an unusually low price and achieved outstanding market success. The camera was still being produced after 20 years - by then 2.5 million units had already been sold. For the immediate readiness of the camera there was the advertising slogan “ You press the button, we do the rest! ”(German:“ You just have to press and we will do the rest ”). For No. 1 it was called “ You press the button, we do the rest! ”That the camera including the exposed film was returned to the photo dealer and the customer later got it back together with the newly inserted film as well as the negatives and prints.
The term "box"
United States
Kodak did not initially use the word “box”, but gave the models names such as Brownie . They even avoided any appearance that it might be a cheap product, which was expressed, for example, in the slogan “Not a toy, but a camera!”. However, the vernacular soon spoke of a “box camera”, so that this term became widely accepted.
Germany
In Germany the correct term would have been "roll film box camera". Box cameras already existed at the beginning of photography, they were the simple counterpart to the complex bellow cameras . Towards the end of the 19th century, photo catalogs often said: schoolchildren's cameras. These apparatuses used glass plates which had to be carried along separately and were laborious to insert before recording. In the case of the new roll film models, the term “box” was immediately adopted from overseas.
technology
casing
The housing should be easy to manufacture without expensive tools. It was preferably made of sheet steel, with more expensive cameras also made of light aluminum sheet, with cheap cameras made of cardboard. Plastic housings were rare, as this material did not come onto the market as a mass product until the end of the box era.
The typical structure consisted of a front plate to which the lens , the viewfinder and the shutter were attached. In some cameras, this plate was firmly connected to the side panels and the rear wall could be opened or removed and the unit for film guide and spool holder could be removed, for which one had to easily pull out the film transport wheel or toggle. A (roll) film could be clamped into this expanded unit. This is particularly the case with the structure of the Agfa box cameras. In another variant, the front panel could be pulled off the housing. In this case, the film guide was on the front panel, so it was pulled out of the housing.
lens
For cost reasons, the lens of a box camera consisted of no more than two lenses , in the vast majority of cases only one.
meniscus
In the case of a lens, a meniscus, also known as a monocle, was used; thus a convex-concave shaped converging lens. This lens could be placed in front of or - then rotated by 180 ° - behind the aperture. In the latter case, there was usually a protective glass in front of the aperture and shutter. The lens position had no influence on the image quality, but it did on the distortion . Installed in front of the aperture, it created a pillow-shaped distortion, behind it a barrel-shaped distortion. The latter meant a tube that protruded into the camera. This resulted in a completely square and large case. An acceptable image quality could therefore only be achieved with a small aperture ratio. With the film format '6 × 9', the limit is 1: 11, which was often encountered. Because the image quality of a meniscus decreased rapidly towards the edge of the image and this was less disturbing with the square format 6 × 6, the opening could be enlarged to 1: 9.
periscope
The distortion of a meniscus could be compensated by using two such lenses, which were arranged symmetrically around the diaphragm. Because of the higher costs, this solution was rarely used.
Achromat
In very few box cameras, an achromat was used, i.e. two cemented lenses whose color errors offset each other. This effort could only be realized in the less popular upper price range.
Distance adjustment
In most cases, box cameras did not have the ability to adjust the distance, i.e. a fixed focus lens . At 6 × 9, the image became sharp from a distance of just under 3 m. For the range from 1 m to 2 m there were so-called portrait lenses that were screwed on or clamped on the outside. The distance could only be adjusted in two or three stages on a few cameras, and close-up lenses were swiveled into the beam path. A movable lens, however, meant a considerable effort that was out of the question for cheap models. There was also the risk that inexperienced users would always produce blurred images with the wrong setting.
cover
Almost all cameras could be dimmed, which was usually done through a perforated plate that could be swiveled into the beam path. Mostly the f-numbers 11 and 16 were available, sometimes up to three f-stops. The values themselves, however, like the shutter speeds, were often not specified specifically. With a meniscus lens, stopping down resulted in a considerably higher image quality (and acceptable for the medium format). The resulting greater depth of field was a side result. The aperture was mainly used to adjust the exposure. With some boxes, a close-up lens or a yellow filter was also attached to the shutter and could be easily selected. The yellow filter increased the contrast of clouds.
Clasp
Since the shutter is generally one of the expensive parts of a camera, it is also limited to the bare essentials for the box cameras. Practically all box models only had a single shutter speed, which was in the range from 1/25 s to 1/40 s and, like the aperture, was often not even specified by the manufacturer.
The standard, however, included switching to long exposure, the associated lever had positions M (for snapshot 1/30 sec.) And Z (for time recording ). The shutter remains open as long as the trigger is pressed. This could be achieved technically with little effort, just like the cable release connection, which is actually inevitable . The angular design of the camera provided the necessary good support surface, and tripod threads were also available in some cases.
Despite the initially low film sensitivity , the open shutter made it possible to take photos even when the sky was overcast or indoors. The lightning was (synchronized) with (pyrotechnic) Flash powder, bag or later possible with the cleaner, electric ignition capsule flashes (disposable pears). The manufacturers provided instructions for estimating the exposure time and flash distance.
The shutter was self-cocking, also because of its simplicity, so it did not need to be cocked in a separate step before releasing, as with better cameras. The film transport was separated from the shutter release and was done by a toggle or a wheel that had to be turned. The correct position of the roll film had to be observed through a red window on the back of the camera, and numbers and symbols were printed on the back of the film.
Rotation lock
In cheap cameras, a pane moved in a certain direction when the shutter was closed, with an elongated hole briefly opening the beam path. In the end position it stopped and turned in the other direction the next time it was released. The release lever was accordingly once in the lower and then in the upper position, so it had to be pressed alternately in one direction and the other. The Kodak No. 1 (Eastmann Rotory Shutter) already had such a shutter. In Germany this primitive system only existed on early Eho, Beier and Agfa boxes.
More often, the shutter disc and release lever would move back to their original position after exposure. During this process, a spoon or lid slide was lowered into the beam path in such a way that exposure was only possible while it was pressed down.
Flash synchronization
With the time lock, (unsynchronized) flashing was possible with each box with the shutter open. Flash bulbs were hugely popular in the United States as early as the late 1940s . Philips and Osram presented these lightning bulbs in the spring of 1950 at the Photokina in Cologne . As early as the following Christmas business, the first synchronized box models with a (soon also standardized) connection for the still bulky flash units came onto the market, even before this technology could be offered for expensive cameras such as the Leica .
At first, the flash sync was sometimes unreliable. Flash bulbs contain light metal wire wool or foil, which burns in the glass bulb filled with oxygen and glows for about 1/25 - 1/30 of a second, which in turn corresponds to the shutter speed of the camera. Due to the time required for ignition, the pear is ignited about 1/50 of a second before the shutter opens, which initially caused problems for some manufacturers. For some cameras, the exact time depended on the pressure on the release lever, for example. With other cameras, such as the Tengor Box from Zeiss Ikon, this link worked perfectly from the start.
Another problem was the rather low ignition voltage for the bulbs, along with high battery consumption. Often the flash units only had a 1.5 V battery, later 22.5 V hearing aid batteries (or stronger) were installed. The problem was solved with the construction of battery- saving voltage converter circuits with storage capacitors .
Counter
All box cameras used numbers printed on the paper backing of the roll film as a counter, similar to the later film cassettes. The numbers (and arrows) were observed through a red window on the back of the camera. After exposure, the film was manually advanced to the next number. Cameras that could be switched to different image formats with masks had several windows, which could lead to mix-ups. With the appearance of the more sensitive isochrome films in the mid-1930s and with the (sometimes common) use of roll film formats without paper backing, the red window was fitted with a slider so that it could be closed light-tight if necessary.
Viewfinder
Frame finder
On early boxing cameras, a simple frame could be folded out, which served as a viewfinder, for which the camera was held at eye level. In the 1930s, this no longer corresponded to the state of the art and was only provided for the simplest cameras.
Brilliant viewfinder (and ground glass viewfinder)
More advanced than the frame finder was the brilliant finder, which was highlighted in advertisements for more upscale models. A rectangular ground converging lens showed a reversed, comparatively bright image through a mirror. One disadvantage was the somewhat imprecise limitation. The brilliant finders were usually available twice, for portrait and landscape format shots. The light entry was on the front panel of the camera, the view was on the respective side of the housing. As with the later shaft finder of two-lens cameras, a reversed, albeit small, image was shown. Cameras with a diamond viewfinder were usually held at stomach height and triggered.
The focusing screen viewfinder is the weaker, otherwise largely similar forerunner of the brilliant viewfinder. It should not be confused with the focusing screen of large format cameras or SLR cameras , but was not in the beam path.
See-through viewer
The see-through viewfinder that is common with viewfinder cameras (in the various designs) could not be attached to the rectangular box housing in a practical way; it only became common in later plastic designs of the box. Mention should be made of the "Agfa Clack" published in 1954, one of the first cameras with a corresponding housing. Technically, the Clack can be counted among the box cameras, but due to the elegant, quite modern plastic housing (and the price) it could keep up with other, simultaneous camera models.
distribution
Before the First World War
At the beginning of roll film, Kodak had a great technical lead. No other manufacturer succeeded in developing a flexible film carrier; Agfa even temporarily abandoned its efforts in 1905. Kodak was unrivaled with its box cameras. The German market was conquered with an intensity unknown at the time. To the annoyance of the German photo trade, Kodak began to set up its own sales network in 1911. When the war began, US products disappeared from the market for the next ten years, and could only be offered again after the great inflation .
Situation around 1925
Kodak's announcement that it would be back on the German market was viewed critically, but German industry now believed it could keep up. The chairman of the Photo and Cinema Dealers Association, Franz Herder , said in the specialist magazine Die Photographische Industrie : “If Kodak AG [...] had believed that German dealers, as in previous years, were exclusively involved in the sale of Kodak products Background, then she was wrong. We can say without exaggeration that apparatus, films and paper are manufactured in Germany today in first-class quality. ”In fact, AGFA had been producing roll films since 1915 and in 1916 offered the first cameras with the“ Film-K ”models from Ernemann from Dresden . These box cameras in wooden construction with attached shutter could not achieve the quality of a Kodak, but they were an entry into the market. From 1925, Kodak was no longer unrivaled in the German market. The first German box camera appeared in the spring of 1924, but due to a lack of advertising and technical perfection, it hardly found any buyers.
Folk camera
Around 1928 the term “people's camera” was popular among photo sellers, even before Volkswagen and people's receivers were mentioned. However, there was disagreement on how an easy-to-use, inexpensive camera should look. Some initially asked for an apparatus for the photo plates in the 9 × 12 format, including the well-known photo sender Hanns Porst . Technically, a smaller format was initially considered to be of insufficient quality, whereby the aversion to the "American" roll film played a role. Progressive experts were already thinking of the 35mm film , but the state of the art did not allow the production of inexpensive cameras for it. With small formats, it was not possible to make sufficiently large contact prints to produce paper images with minimal effort, enlargements were technically more complex and expensive. The camera manufacturers took the first step with new roll film cameras, and Zeiss-Ikon made a particularly successful start with the Box Tengor .
The breakthrough
In October 1930 Emil Hofert presented his model to the Eho company from Dresden with the words: "Eho, the people's camera in the true sense of the word". Max Baldeweg from the Balda company presented his box. But above all, the mighty Agfa helped the box to gigantic success, to which trend-setting advertising campaigns played their part. These activities were driven by the miserable economic situation, the turnover of the photo dealers was particularly bad in 1930 and in the summer of that year the dealers started a joint advertising campaign in all shop windows with the slogan "Whoever takes photos has more of life".
Feedback from photo dealers
Photo dealers were reluctant to support the boom in the new simple cameras, despite the new customer base, including schoolchildren. But for the photo trade, “prestigious Mercedes drivers” who contented themselves with “idiot cameras” were not profitable enough. It was easier to earn 100 RM selling a Leica than the same amount with numerous 6 × 9 prints. The Munich photo dealer Fisius described his impressions over afternoon coffee in a posh Heidelberg excursion restaurant in July 1934 in the trade journal Die Photographische Industrie : “Within an hour, I counted two Leicas, a Contax, a Rolleiflex, two or three roll film devices like the Bessa or Ikonta and 18 boxing cameras! [and found] [...] all of these people I saw with a box, mostly with the cheap four-mark box, could have afforded a better machine. [He suggested] the box [...] to ruin all those who can very well afford a better machine. [… It should be like this…] that if you are self-respecting you are not allowed to carry a boxing camera for a walk on the promenade, on a trip or in the posh seaside resort. It has to be at least one collapsible roll film camera! ”The success for the box was unstoppable.
In the post-war period
After 1945, new simple cameras were initially a long time coming. Production started with the expensive models, at Rollei and Leitz . Box cameras only reappeared after the currency reform , and from 1949 onwards there were new models almost every week. The antiquated design and the technically unchanged pre-war model from Agfa nevertheless brought high sales figures and in 1954 they were still in high demand. At the beginning of 1955, however, the situation suddenly changed with new models, in particular the modern Agfa Clack made the previous "tin boxes" appear old and their sales dropped significantly.
Taking pictures with a box
picture quality
The limited quality of the single-lens lenses produced rather low-contrast images, which is why good sunlight was necessary. However, most box cameras were mainly used in the summer months, especially during the holiday season.
Moving motifs
In addition to the lack of contrast, pictures from the box cameras could be recognized by the motion blur. The slow shutter speed called for motifs that were as motionless as possible, people walking seemed unrecognizable, and pictures of moving automobiles or trains or from them could not be made.
Color films and high speed films
All reports unanimously stated that box cameras could easily expose color films , even though the lenses were not specially corrected for it. The theoretical significance arises from the fact that the authorized Agfa dealers accepted color films for development from January 1950 onwards, but hardly any such films came in a box because they were immensely expensive. Not only were the films expensive, but also the prints. A 9 × 12 print was four to five times more expensive than black and white at around DM 2 .
Even today, the type 120 roll film, which is still available, can still be used successfully with box cameras measuring 6 × 9.
Caution was advised when using high-sensitivity films over ISO 100/21 ° and films with broad sensitivity over the entire color spectrum (PAN films), especially when using films without a paper backing, as they increasingly appeared in the 1950s. The source of the error was the red window of the picture counter, which did not keep enough light away from the film. The result was sometimes a white spot with the number of images in the middle of the finished print. Some cameras offered a slider to close the red film counter window when not in use, so that the light could be prevented.
When enlarging black and white material, it was possible to correct the exposure in the laboratory afterwards. Color films performed poorly in this practice because of the lower latitude in exposure. Solutions came with the further development of photo technology that was initiated in this way.
Blitzen - bag flash and flashlight bulbs
Before the war, flashing was generally done with special flash powder. Usually magnesium and potassium chlorate were mixed in certain proportions and ignited with a mechanical device by the spark of a rubbing stone. These lightning bolts resembled a tea bag, they contained lightning powder, had a hanging cord on the top and a fuse on the bottom. This bag was hung on a broomstick, for example, and a collecting bowl was placed underneath if possible. When the room was dark and the camera shutter was open, the fuse was burned with a match. The combustion produced smoke from the magnesium oxide and there was a risk of fire from combustible material in the area.
Piston flash devices (capsule flashes, flash bulbs, flash bulbs) also represented a significant advance. Flashing with flash devices for flash bulbs was initially expensive, the devices themselves cost almost as much as a (simple) camera, plus the price for batteries and bulbs initially 80 pfennigs, later this 40 pfennigs fell. In comparison, a black and white film cost 1.50 DM at the time. For this reason, a box camera was rarely used. For professional and press photographers, they represented a useful further development, which was later followed by capacitor flashes and electric and electronic flashes.
Well-known manufacturers
Germany
The box camera most widely used in Germany is the inexpensive Agfa Box in its various versions. Other manufacturers of box cameras were the German companies Woldemar Beier ( Freitaler Kameraindustrie Beier & Co. , later Penti), Carl Braun, Certo Camera-Werk, Colibri-Kamerabau , Dangelmaier , EHO , Zeiss Ikon ( Tengor -Boxen), Ernemann , Camera- Werk Adolf Gerlach , ICA , Eduard Liesegang , Friedrich Linden , Steinheil and Münster Kamerabau , Pouva (brand Pouva Start), Kürbi & Niggeloh from Radevormwald (brand name Bilora ), Vredeborch from Nordenham (brand Aleata , with Baby Box and Optomax-Syncrona), Optical institute CP Goerz .
foreign countries
In France, box cameras from Luminor, Lumiere & Cie. and Boyer manufactured. In Great Britain it was R. & J. Beck, APM, Houghton-Butcher, Newman & Guardia, in the USA Argus, Herbert George Co., Herco, Shaw-Harrison Corp. to mention, box camera factories were Fiamma in Italy, MOM in Hungary and Sigma in Australia.
literature
- Hans-Dieter Götz: Box Cameras Made in Germany. How the Germans learned to take pictures . 160 pages, vfv Verlag für Foto Film und Video, Gilching 2002, ISBN 3-88955-131-9 .
- Colin Ford and Karl Steinorth: A round world. From the beginnings of snapshot photography . 138 pages, Nishen, Berlin 1988, ISBN 3-88940-029-9 .
- Willi Kerkmann: German cameras 1900–1945 and German cameras 1945–1986 . 270 pages each, Lindemanns, 1987.
- Peter Wache: Bilora - 40 years of camera history All cameras from 1935 to 1975 . 64 pages, self-published by Peter Wache.
- James E. Cornwall: Historical Cameras 1845-1970 . 260 pages, vwi-Verlag, Herrschig / Ammersee, ISBN 3-88369-115-1 (description and illustration of more than 800 cameras)
