The legendary Indra Lux

[photax]

Hi !

Here is one of the rarest German cameras ( if not the rarest Bakelite camera ever made ): The Indra Lux for 4x4cm exposures on 127- rollfilm, made 1949/1950 by Indra Camera GmbH in Frankfurt. The Bakelite is marked with “IGG” ( International Galalith Works in Hamburg ). This model has a fancy streamlined design and is equipped with a “Optik Rau Wetzlar f=6 1:7.7” lens. A special feature is the film-repository at the bottom. Also interesting: the viewer is provided with a so called “colour-brake”. It is made of a yellowish foil, that should offer a sharper image and the impression of a BW picture. The Indra Camera GmbH (limited liability company) advertised this camera for the first time in Dec. 1949 as “the turning point of camera production” WOW ! . Buying the camera in 1949 ( for equalling 9.- USD ) included a one year insurance against breakage. It is reported that the company only existed a few month. It took me about 20 years to find one…

MIK

[nikonbob]

MIK

You have been showing some very interesting cameras that I have never heard of before and this is another one of them. The use of bakelite makes for some unique looking shapes too. Thanks for sharing.

Bob

[mickeyobe]

MIK,

That really is an imaginative design.
I wonder how it performed.
I recall seeing a camera that held a spare roll of film within its body but I can't, try as I may, remember when or where.

Mickey

[pompiere]

I have a Falcon Deluxe Miniature that has a space for a spare roll of 127 film inside.

[photax]

There is another one with an integrated film-box: The Plascaflex V 45, a Bakelite TLR from 1952 made by Potthoff ( also known as “Montanus” ) Germany. If you pull it out, you get a magnifier, because the cap of the film container has a lens.
Ron, do you have a picture of the Falcon ?



MIK

[pompiere]

www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Miniature

It's not mine, but it is very similar. The Deluxe has a folding viewfinder. The same camera was sold under various names. It takes half frame images on 127 film. You wind "1" to the A window, take a picture, wind "1" to the B window, take a picture, repeat for "2". The Falcon came out around the same time as the Argus A, so the styling is very similar, but the Falcon is a simple point and shoot camera and the lens does not collapse like the Argus.

[Just Plain Curt]

The Mar-Crest had a similar film storage slot as did most 127 cheapies of the day.

[photax]

Thank you guys ! I like these early american Bakelite cameras and now that i have seen the pictures, i guess i have a Falcon Deluxe somewhere hidden in a box...

MIK

[photax]

Just seen a Indra Lux ( with front-window missing ) on Ebay Germany: Buy it now for 499.- EUR / 635.- USD
This is absolutely crazy !

MIK

[daveh]

The Indra Lux looks as much like an old radio as it does a camera.

[melek]

The Indra Lux looks like a miniature table radio from the 1930s. Love it!