Wonder Photo Cannon

June 8, 2020

This is of the more unusual cameras in my camera collection. At least it’s the most unusual in shape, and size as this is one beautiful chrome and nickel cameras in the collection.

This odd camera was produced by The Chicago Ferrotype Company which was started by two brothers, Louis and Manuel Mandel in 1904. They produced the Wonder Photo Cannon between 1910, and 1928 as well as other “street” style cameras. The “street” camera was made so the photographer to produce a large number of images in a short time. It’s said the photographer could produce up to 360 images in an hour.

The name of the camera comes from the shape of a ship’s cannon and was also known as a magazine camera due to its ability to hold many ferrotype plates into the back of the camera at one time. This conical-shaped camera measures about 9 1/2″ tall from the base to the top of the viewing site and is about 13 1/2″ long.

One of the reasons I like this camera is it resembles the original Voigtlander daguerreotype camera. You can see a replica image of the camera here.

The photographer would load the 1” diameter ferrotype plates into the rear of the camera through the backs opening. They were held into place by a spring-tensioned rod that threaded into the back.

The photographer would photograph the subjects, and the ferrotype plate would then drop into the film processing chambers under the camera. There is a rotating arm that allowed the photographer to drop them into 2 different chambers.

On the right of the camera is a rod, and on my version, it appears this sets the shutter to either “T” or “B” for exposure. On the lower left side of the lens is where the photographer could put in the bulb release to expose the images.

The Wonder Photo Cannon in my collection

I purchased this from a person in the Seattle area that said this was his father’s camera and he had had it for many, many years, and used in when the father was younger and had it put away for years. Here are some images of the camera in my collection. It’s missing the rear finder, but overall a great addition to the collection.

If you have comments, concerns, or questions, I look forward to hearing from you. If you have items you’re looking to move, please email me on my contact page, as I’m always looking. Thank you for your time.

Bell & Howell Foton Camera

June 1, 2020

A tremendous post-war 35mm rangefinder camera with the capability of a 6 FPS motor drive. This beautiful brown and chrome camera is a bit larger than the usual Leica, Nikon, and Canon rangefinders of the days, measuring 5.75” wide, x 4” tall and 3.25” deep with the normal Cooke Amotal 2” f2.2 lens made by Taylor, Taylor & Hobbs Ltd of England. The camera weighs in at a little over 2 lbs. (2 lbs. 2 oz.), but it fits into your hand nicely. The price tag at release was around $700.00 which was very high for that time period.

The camera was Bell & Howell foray into 35mm cameras and was introduced in 1948. The camera had some really advanced features. The ringsider focus was on the front of the camera and rolled up and down next to the shutter release making the ability to focus and shoot very easy. Nikon, Leica, and Canon had similar features, but they were on the top of the camera as opposed to the front.

The shutter release area had a few different functions. On the top of the shutter release, you could pick between single frame with the top knob in the lower position, and sequence shooting with it in the upper position. Below the shutter release was another switch that allowed the user to lock the shutter so you couldn’t fire the camera when it’s locked position. On the other side of the lens on the front of the camera is the shutter speed dial, which goes from “B” to 1/1000. The shutter speeds under 1/250 drops to 1/100, then 50, 25, 10, 5, 2, 1 as opposed to what’s normal now. The camera has an odd vertically traveling shutter with a secondary guard in front of it which you can see when the lens is off.

The two small openings on the back are the rangefinder focus and 50mm viewfinder which doesn’t have parallax correction. On the bottom of the camera is the motor drive winding mechanism. You can get up to a total of 17 exposures on a full wind, which is impressive.

The camera normal lens is a screw mount lens and employs a T-stop system which is mainly used in the commercial cinematography world. This makes sense for a company known for manufacturing motion picture cameras. The telephoto lenses use the outer bayonet which is around the lens.

The back of the camera opens from the right to the left, which is unusual for the majority of the 35mm cameras made, but the camera loads like any other 35mm camera.

For the camera collectors, this is a fairly difficult and pricy camera to find. They stopped production in the early 1950’s because sales for the camera were very slow. Sources say there were less than 17,000 made, but they are extremely well built and when found, they are generally in working condition which is a testament to how well they were made. I’ve had the pleasure of owning 2 so far. One was purchased in a “lot” of items purchased. I noticed the Foton in the photos but the camera was on its side and had to ask the seller if that was a Bell & Howell camera which they confirmed. Luckily I bought the entire lot for under $100.00.

Kodak Super Six-20

May 25, 2020

This is my fist of what I’m hoping to be weekly posts on cameras in my collection as well as what my interests are in collecting, which are pretty much anything photographic with a few exceptions.

In my posting, I’d rather let you know how I came across certain cameras and the story behind it as opposed to physical facts on the camera which are pretty easy to find on the web. If you have questions, concerns or comments about my collection, as specific camera, or just want to discuss your collection, I’m always open to comments here.

In this post, I wanted to discuss what is one of the rarer cameras to have in my collection, the Kodak Super Six-20 camera. It’s estimated this camera was produced for 6 years, from 1938-1944, and due to the expense of the camera ($225.00) during these days, there were only about 720 made. It was also the camera that started “Auto Exposure” in production cameras. I think one of the neatest thing about this and other Kodaks, was it was designed by Joseph Mihalyi and Walter Dorwin Teague. Walter Teague designed the Kodak Beau Brownies, and one of my all time designs in a camera, the Bantam Special along with many other cameras, radios and other products.

How I got this beauty, or at least the first one as this is the second. When I was in Los Angeles, I read on Craigslist there was someone selling one which peaked my interest. I called and talked to the owner a few times after emailing back and forth. We finally determined a good place to meet where I could finally see this camera they were touting as in “great condition”. We met and the pewrson had the camera in a case and when they pulled it out, I was slightly disappointed as the camera was in pretty rough shape. The camera was missing a few screws and wouldn’t stay open and the stand on the front door was missing. After discussing with the owner what was wrong with the camera, they knoew it was fairly valuable, so we agreed on a price for it which was OK, not great, but I now own one which made me happy.

I put it on my shelf and had it for about a year or so when my wife and I moved to a new location. After getting settled in, I saw the local camera collectors were having a swap meet. Something I love doing. I signed up for the swap meet which was a couple hours away from where we live. I packed up the night before and added the Super Six-20 in the camera tubs to bring with me. At the show was kept circling back at least 3-4 times and looking at the camera. We started up a conversation and he said he’s always wanted to own one and he even had a copy (photocopy) of the instructions. He said he didn’t mind the imperfections with the missing screws and foot on the camera. He said he’d even send me a copy of the instructions if I’d sell him ths model.

Soon after I sold this version, I saw another for sale on eBay which had the box, foot and was in better physical shape with the exception of some minor leatherette missing on the front door which you can see in the photos below. The price I sold the first one allowed me to purchase the newer one with the box and now a photocopy of the instructions as well.

If you have comments, concerns, or questions, I look forward to hearing from you. If you have items you’re looking to move, please email me on my contact page, as I’m always looking.

Camera Collecting Blog

For this camera collecting blog, I want to give you a little background on my interest in anything photographic.

I can still remember when my uncle gave me my first camera. I was nine years old. It was a Univex twin lens camera, and I was mesmerized looking down through the waist level finder. Everything was backward, but my brain quickly figured out left was right, and right was left. I took that camera on vacation to Alaska shooting 620 films and still have the negatives and photos.

Fast forward to when I'm 16. I find myself in the front row at concerts like Traffic, Humble Pie, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Queen, and all the classic bands of the '70s. My three friends and I went to see bands at least a couple of times a month. I first was published in Rolling Stone, Musician Magazine, Guitar Player, and other publications. In later years, we published a blog on the shows we saw and also have images on my website. I'm in the process of writing a book on my experiences and pictures from this period.

My passion for all things cameras and photographic started when I turned 18 and started working at the local camera store. I worked there for almost 20 years. I sold all the classic cameras of the 1970s and '80s like Canon AE-1, Nikon F, Minolta SRT, Pentax Spotmatic, Topcon Super D, and many large and medium format cameras. To this day, I can tell these camera cameras even from the outline they have. During this time, I started to collect anything photographic, but the real passion is for cameras and lenses.

I've had a great career in the photo industry, which has lead in many different directions. My different positions were, Professional Photo Lab Manager, PrePress and high-end scanner salesman, Representative for Sinar and Broncolor, Leaf Digital back representative. The most recent job was the Profoto Rep for the US, West Coast, for almost 15 years. During these times, I've had the opportunity to travel. I always found some time to seek out cameras or photo items in the town I've gone to. I've also had the chance to meet and work with some fascinating photographers over my career. Mary Ellen Mark, Jim Marshall, Dan Winters, Annie Leibovitz, and many, many others.

Currently, my camera collection is around 500-600 cameras. It includes many exotic and colorful Kodaks like the full line of the Beau Brownies, the very rare, Super-Six Twenty, the 35mm Ektra model and lenses, and the string set models. I also have 10-12 Leica's from the original A, the hockey stick models, into the M4 black paint, and some of the newer digital. I own from the subcompact models through to many 8x10 cameras with exotic brass lenses.

I've devoured the McKeown's camera guides and own most versions of the camera bible going back to 1984. I own a collection of camera collecting books in the neighborhood of about 100, including camera manufacturing books. I collect cameras, but my photographic collection includes 200 or so panoramic images, several hundred Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, original glass negatives, camera advertising, figurines with camera, and many, many more items. I started the Camera Collecting page on Facebook.

When eBay started back in 1996 or so, I was an early adopter using its platform. In 1997 when I joined them, my seller number was 1034 and currently still sell on eBay under Clix, which is my seller name.

Due to recent tragic events from the Covid-19 lately, my career with Profoto ended, and I'm onto the next chapter. One of the options was to start writing articles on camera collecting, which has always been my passion.