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Post by GeorgeM on Jun 15, 2011 15:03:17 GMT -5
I recently bought a Nagel Triumph 68 with a Schneider lens from ebay for about £30. I bought it because I know it's not very common, and I cannot find ANY information on it, but I'm guessing its from around 1929. I've looked through old adverts for cameras at the time, but still nothing If there are any Nagel experts out there, can you help me please? Thank You
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Doug T.
Lifetime Member
Pettin' The Gator
Posts: 1,199
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Post by Doug T. on Jun 15, 2011 15:45:12 GMT -5
Hi George! Does it look like this? If it does, I got this off camerapedia.wikia.com. I don't know how to copy links, but this is a good one that I use often. They have some information on this camera. Viel Glueck!! Doug
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Post by GeorgeM on Jun 15, 2011 15:59:11 GMT -5
Thank you, but that was the first place that i looked. I know how to use it, I'm looking for any information on it, as in how many were produced, with what lenses, on Camerapedia it says Anastigmat, but I have a Schnieder lens, so maybe there were more varieties etc
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PeterW
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Member has Passed
Posts: 3,804
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Post by PeterW on Jun 15, 2011 17:55:20 GMT -5
Hi George.
I wouldn't set myself up as an expert on all cameras designed by Dr. August Nagel, but he is one of my favourite designers.
You probably know if you've browsed round the net that in 1926 Nagel's company Contessa Nettel in Stuttgart was absorbed into the huge Zeiss Ikon grouping with headquarters in Dresden, a long way north-east from Stuttgart, and controlled by the Zeiss Stiftung, or Zeiss Foundation.
For various reasons Nagel found he just didn't fit in on the board of directors at Dresden. He stuck it for two years before resigning to set up his own factory again by buying, gutting and refurbishing a run-down disused factory in Wangen, a suburb of Stuttgart.
He had some brilliant new designs in his mind, or notebook, but needed to get into production quickly with a number of well-made and soundly designed roll film folders. The Triumph, launched in 1929, was one of these, though it has been somewhat over-shadowed in Nagel history by other cameras including the very similar looking and more popular Vollenda.
With regard to the lens, some Nagel cameras had lenses labelled Nagel Anastigmat, but the Nagel factory never produced any lenses. The majority were bought from Schneider, including the "own-brand" Nagel Anastigmats. For some of his higher-precision designs he also bought lenses from Leitz which modified the back-focus of the Elmar to be suitable. It says quite a lot for Nagel's reputation as a designer that Leitz did this, and still kept the name Elmar on it.
By 1931 Nagel was in desperate need of capital to put some of his new designs into production. At this time Kodak was looking for a manufacturing base on the mainland of Europe. Nagel was approached, with the result that Kodak bought his factory and company in 1931 and provided the capital for expansion and new designs while leaving Nagel in almost sole control.
At first, some existing Nagel cameras were carried on as German Kodaks, including the Vollenda with a restyled body, the familiar "flattened octagon" which Nagel had first introduced on the Ikonta 6x9 folders at Contessa Nettel.
Other designs were dropped, including the similar but cheaper Triumph, to make way for Nagel's masterpiece, the Retina, which introduced another of his brilliant ideas, the disposable cartridge, or cassette, for 35mm film. This was the camera that really put Kodak AG on the European map.
I haven't yet been able to find any production records for the Nagel company from 1928 to 1931, so I don't know how many Triumphs were made but they were not very numerous. A good example is well worth its place in any collection of European cameras.
This has, of necessity, been a very cut-down and somewhat simplified run through the history of Nagel's factory in Wangen. I am working on a history/biography of August Nagel which I hope to put on my website one day, but digging out detailed information isn't easy.
Hope this is of some help in putting your Triumph into some kind of framework.
PeterW
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Post by GeorgeM on Jun 16, 2011 12:21:39 GMT -5
Very Helpful, thanks!
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