A couple Odd Balls

[der84]

Here are a few odd ball cameras from my collection that I wasn't really sure where to post.

Ensign Cupid (Houghton-Butcher) 1922. This camera is just different all over. Different shape, (T-shape) different look with the over-sized bullseye view finders. Also, a pretty interesting shutter. In order to cock the shutter, you need to pull up on the plunger knob, located on top of the lens housing and then pushing the shutter trigger on the left hand side. Almost like a pin-hole camera as the lens is so small.
Hosted on Fotki

Kandor Jr. Made by the Irwin Camera Corp. of New York in 1939. A candid camera shaped like a sardine can, like many of their other models. This one is in a little rough shape, but is still a favorite of mine.
Hosted on Fotki

Purma Special 1937
I always love finding cameras that have unique features to them. Most collectors will know of this one because of not only it's streamline design, but also because of the shutter speed feature. Depending on how you hold this camera, will depend on how fast or slow the shutter fires. How cool is that!
Hosted on Fotki

Derek

[genazzano]

A very nice collection of really odd ball cameras. My compliments.

My Kandor arrived in pretty rough condition but with a little cleaning, it came out looking almost new. The Lomography copies are wonderful, IMO. The history of the Irwin cameras on the Web is rather suspect, though. They were never sardine cans and the Chicago mafia never had anything to do with the company. The best source for the history of Irwin is in "Glass, Brass, and Chrome" which is a very interesting book for collectors though it too receives some criticism. Note that the insert that came with the camera is from Harold Products of Chicago, whereas, the camera is from Irwin in New York City.

Sylvain Halgand has a very interesting and entertaining site which includes a history of the Kandor candid cameras. It is written with a lot of humor and is perhaps the single most common source of the sardine can myth. If one reads his site carefully, you will notice his following comment:


"This history is…. a history, only a history, which proves that with conviction one can tell any sh.. on Internet. There, it is beautiful. Excuse is delirious it. Make starts to me from your reactions."

I even see references to Elliot Ness regarding the Kandor camera. Actually, Ness was long gone from the FBI by late 1930's and Irwin was making the Kandor. By that time Ness was in charge of the Fire Department in Cleveland, Ohio. So the location of New York on the Irwin cameras was due to the fact that they were located in New York.




My Kandor after some minor restoration by removing the surface corrosion and dirt..



The Lomography copy of the Irwin Kandor.

I also think your choices of the Ensign Cupid and Purma Special are especially good as well. I am still searching for a good example of the Cupid similar to yours.

David

[der84]

Feb 25, 2015 2:40:30 GMT -5 genazzano said:

A very nice collection of really odd ball cameras. My compliments.

My Kandor arrived in pretty rough condition but with a little cleaning, it came out looking almost new. The Lomography copies are wonderful, IMO. The history of the Irwin cameras on the Web is rather suspect, though. They were never sardine cans and the Chicago mafia never had anything to do with the company. The best source for the history of Irwin is in "Glass, Brass, and Chrome" which is a very interesting book for collectors though it too receives some criticism. Note that the insert that came with the camera is from Harold Products of Chicago, whereas, the camera is from Irwin in New York City.

Sylvain Halgand has a very interesting and entertaining site which includes a history of the Kandor candid cameras. It is written with a lot of humor and is perhaps the single most common source of the sardine can myth. If one reads his site carefully, you will notice his following comment:


"This history is…. a history, only a history, which proves that with conviction one can tell any sh.. on Internet. There, it is beautiful. Excuse is delirious it. Make starts to me from your reactions."

I even see references to Elliot Ness regarding the Kandor camera. Actually, Ness was long gone from the FBI by late 1930's and Irwin was making the Kandor. By that time Ness was in charge of the Fire Department in Cleveland, Ohio. So the location of New York on the Irwin cameras was due to the fact that they were located in New York.




My Kandor after some minor restoration by removing the surface corrosion and dirt..



The Lomography copy of the Irwin Kandor.

I also think your choices of the Ensign Cupid and Purma Special are especially good as well. I am still searching for a good example of the Cupid similar to yours.

David

Thanks for the info David. Great looking Kandor camera you have. I'm still hoping to find more of the Irwin cameras for my collection.

Yes, Sylvain Halgand has an amazing site with so much info on it. I wonder how many of the cameras are actually his? As I understand he has a huge collection himself.

There is also some info done by a collector named John Kratz called the "Chicago Cluster" about the select candid camera models with many different names all produced at the same address in Chicago. You mentioned Harold Products of Chicago, as that was one of the names used. So I'm wondering if the Irwin camera models tie in with that?

Gotta love camera history.

Derek

[der84]

Yes, I realize I can start a new thread, but I think that this camera belongs in with the odd balls even through it is a box camera. Not sure how uncommon one of these are, but I've only seen just a few on the internet.

Front View

Hosted on Fotki

Back View

Hosted on Fotki

This is a Photo-See box camera made by the Photo-See Corp. of New York (1930-1939). It was pretty much an earlier version (earlier then Polaroid) instant camera. It came with a developing tank capable of making photos in less then 5 min. The camera had a removable back that held the special film inside a light proof bag. This allowed the film to be removed from the camera to the developing tank in broad daylight.



The developing tank that would come with the camera had holes that would allow the photographer to fill with the developing solutions. The film would be attached to the tank and the process would be controlled by the photographer.



Apparently this wasn't the most successful camera as the whole developing process wasn't easy and the results weren't so good either. Comparing this to the Polaroid cameras which would come on the market 10 years later.

[Dave]

These are great!! I don't have a camera to contribute, but please keep going. Dave

[kodaker]

I also have an oddball that was an 'instant' camera long before Polaroid. Here is the front view of my Mandel PDQ, which I understand meant Pretty Darn Quick. It can be seen here as I seem to unable to upload the picture.
s267.photobucket.com/user/kodak1888/media/mandel1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

[genazzano]

Feb 25, 2015 18:49:30 GMT -5 der84 said:

Feb 25, 2015 2:40:30 GMT -5 genazzano said:

A very nice collection of really odd ball cameras. My compliments.

My Kandor arrived in pretty rough condition but with a little cleaning, it came out looking almost new. The Lomography copies are wonderful, IMO. The history of the Irwin cameras on the Web is rather suspect, though. They were never sardine cans and the Chicago mafia never had anything to do with the company. The best source for the history of Irwin is in "Glass, Brass, and Chrome" which is a very interesting book for collectors though it too receives some criticism. Note that the insert that came with the camera is from Harold Products of Chicago, whereas, the camera is from Irwin in New York City.

Sylvain Halgand has a very interesting and entertaining site which includes a history of the Kandor candid cameras. It is written with a lot of humor and is perhaps the single most common source of the sardine can myth. If one reads his site carefully, you will notice his following comment:


"This history is…. a history, only a history, which proves that with conviction one can tell any sh.. on Internet. There, it is beautiful. Excuse is delirious it. Make starts to me from your reactions."

I even see references to Elliot Ness regarding the Kandor camera. Actually, Ness was long gone from the FBI by late 1930's and Irwin was making the Kandor. By that time Ness was in charge of the Fire Department in Cleveland, Ohio. So the location of New York on the Irwin cameras was due to the fact that they were located in New York.




My Kandor after some minor restoration by removing the surface corrosion and dirt..



The Lomography copy of the Irwin Kandor.

I also think your choices of the Ensign Cupid and Purma Special are especially good as well. I am still searching for a good example of the Cupid similar to yours.

David

Thanks for the info David. Great looking Kandor camera you have. I'm still hoping to find more of the Irwin cameras for my collection.

Yes, Sylvain Halgand has an amazing site with so much info on it. I wonder how many of the cameras are actually his? As I understand he has a huge collection himself.

There is also some info done by a collector named John Kratz called the "Chicago Cluster" about the select candid camera models with many different names all produced at the same address in Chicago. You mentioned Harold Products of Chicago, as that was one of the names used. So I'm wondering if the Irwin camera models tie in with that?

Gotta love camera history.

Derek

The Irwin company did manufacture many models that eventually appeared with various other names. However, the factory was located in New York though several were probably in Chicago.

You may like to look at my new site,. Hopefully. If you find any errors, let me know. I am always on the pen-ultimate version with lots of little mistakes.

See: www.genazzano.fotki.com