My „Other“ Cameras

I have been taking pictures since my childhood, like my father and my grandfather, we are a „photographic family” for sure, and my parents have spent a good part of their professional life with some kind of – very specialized – technical photography. We always had a darkroom available and film, and when my father was fed up with bringing my photographic attempts to paper, he taught me how to enlarge, that was when I was around ten.

Later, I helped out on an hourly basis or stood in for my parents when they were on vacation and surely learned a lot, even though photographic theory was not one of my father’s strong points, he really was a tinkerer like myself.

At least, those experiences led to the conclusion not to become a photographer myself. Instead, my intention was to study “Feinwerktechnik” (miniature mechanics) at the University Braunschweig, where engineers were educated to satisfy the needs of the local Rollei and Voigtlaender plants. Coincidentally with me leaving school, the German photo industry finally collapsed, so this was no longer an option.

My photographic journey continued with a Pentax MX, which earned me some extra “Deutsche Mark“ during University (I worked in dance studios, definitely worst case conditions). Added to my father’s old Rolleicord was his Plaubel 4x5, another (twin lens) Rolleiflex and eventually many other Pentax and Rollei cameras, a constant coming and going, some are still used and loved, some were sold and others stayed in the cabinet just for their oddity.

Some of these “odd” cameras I would also like to present here, and to bitch about them a little. None of them are really valuable and some were no success either, but like every product they have one thing in common: At one point in time, a group of product managers stood around a prototype and decided ”Yes, let’s do it, we will bring this camera to market”. Today, the only explanation for some of these decisions seems to be drug abuse…

Other Odd Cameras

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