Post by philbirch on Oct 15, 2019 9:59:16 GMT -5
I found a Navax camera today - didn't buy it but its worth a mention here. at £450 it was not cheap but there were fewer than 1000 made Large heavy viewfinder camera with an unusual lens. The camera has a Leica register screw thread but a Braun fitting lens. With an adaptor between. This is what Novacon.br says about it:
INA Navax
Another interesting but less advanced 'Leica copy' was the INA Navax. It was made ca. 1955 by a company which, rather unusually, started with building wooden hand carts (apparently in high demand just after WWII) and then started producing roller bearings. The company still exists. It only ever produced one camera, the Navax, although there is mention that Feinwerktechnik GmbH in Lahr, which made the Mec 16 submini camera, was a subsidiary from INA.
The Navax was a viewfinder camera with a metal focal plane shutter which moved vertically. It used 35mm film but the frame size was only 32x22mm, like the early Minolta 35 and Nikon rangefinders. It featured a wind lever and flash synchronisation, but was let down by its simple viewfinder. It came with a Roeschlein-Kreuznach Pointar 45mm f/2.8 lens, which was decent enough but not of Leica quality (and in fact designed for the Braun Paxette mount, see figure caption). All in all, the Navax was a well-build camera, but rather big and clumsy for its features. It is therefore no surprise that it was only produced in very small quantities.
INA Navax
Another interesting but less advanced 'Leica copy' was the INA Navax. It was made ca. 1955 by a company which, rather unusually, started with building wooden hand carts (apparently in high demand just after WWII) and then started producing roller bearings. The company still exists. It only ever produced one camera, the Navax, although there is mention that Feinwerktechnik GmbH in Lahr, which made the Mec 16 submini camera, was a subsidiary from INA.
The Navax was a viewfinder camera with a metal focal plane shutter which moved vertically. It used 35mm film but the frame size was only 32x22mm, like the early Minolta 35 and Nikon rangefinders. It featured a wind lever and flash synchronisation, but was let down by its simple viewfinder. It came with a Roeschlein-Kreuznach Pointar 45mm f/2.8 lens, which was decent enough but not of Leica quality (and in fact designed for the Braun Paxette mount, see figure caption). All in all, the Navax was a well-build camera, but rather big and clumsy for its features. It is therefore no surprise that it was only produced in very small quantities.
