Help my memory - Please!

[Bill Caulfeild-Browne]

Back in the early 1960's I owned a 35 mm camera that was a sort of predecessor of the modern SLR. I think (not sure) it had an optical viewfinder but with a small piece of ground glass which could be lowered into the centre of the film plane for focussing the image. Almost like a sort of reverse periscope...

Can anybody tell me what this was? As I was a penniless student in those days I know it must have been used and so it was probably something made in the late 50's.

I know it took great pictures because I used it to photograph several album covers (LPs - I do remember them!) for a record company. I still have them but naturally the make of camera isn't shown!

Anybody around then who has a better memory? I'd be indebted....
Bill

[Bill Caulfeild-Browne]

Back in the early 1960's I owned a 35 mm camera that was a sort of predecessor of the modern SLR. I think (not sure) it had an optical viewfinder but with a small piece of ground glass which could be lowered into the centre of the film plane for focussing the image. Almost like a sort of reverse periscope...

Can anybody tell me what this was? As I was a penniless student in those days I know it must have been used and so it was probably something made in the late 50's.

I know it took great pictures because I used it to photograph several album covers (LPs - I do remember them!) for a record company. I still have them but naturally the make of camera isn't shown!

Anybody around then who has a better memory? I'd be indebted....
Bill
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=181768\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

The act of writing the question performed miracles for my memory and I suddenly remembered - the camera was a Periflex. Anybody else ever own one of these good but weird machines?
Bill (not as amnesiac as I feared.)

[viewfinder]

I never actually 'owned' one but did use them for special jobs......

It was designed and made by a remarkable man,...a Mr Corfield.    Everything designed by him was ingenious,.....If I remember correctly, he eventually became Sir David Corfield...(?)

I don't think the Periflex was really intended for use by amateur users,.....it was used a lot in UK industry/armed forces particularly as an oscilloscope and microscope camera and I think(?) it was actually designed with this in mind.    At the end of WWII the UK aquired the plant and spare parts to make the pre-war Leica,...they were assembled by a UK aeronautical company called Reid and Sigrist and the main reason was to keep the RAF and some other top line UK aircraft research groups suplied with oscilloscope cameras.    After a while, Reid & Sigrist saw the commercial possibilities and sold the r/f version as the 'Reid 2'.......Corfield attempted to supply the technical requirement for an instrument camera much more cost effectively.

[Paul Kay]

I last saw one of the 'periscope' Periflexes a few years ago for sale in a local (now defunct) camera shop. Judging by the price I presume that they have become highly collectable as have some other British cameras of that period such as Ilfords. My nearest camera shop does have a Periflex for sale (in their 35mm department - or should I say morgue?) but I don't think it was a 'periscope' version (they must have built various models) as I glanced at it the other day and it didn't seem to have one - I'll check next time I'm in and see if I can borrow it and post an image if it is a periscope model.

[viewfinder]

http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/Mus...as/corfield.htm

He was Sir 'Kenneth' Corfield......not a 'David'!

As I remember, it was not my favourite camera to use,...too awkward and fiddly to look into the periscope to check focus and there was a special adator to operate the front shutter button from behind the camera.

[Bill Caulfeild-Browne]

Back in the early 1960's I owned a 35 mm camera that was a sort of predecessor of the modern SLR. I think (not sure) it had an optical viewfinder but with a small piece of ground glass which could be lowered into the centre of the film plane for focussing the image. Almost like a sort of reverse periscope...

Can anybody tell me what this was? As I was a penniless student in those days I know it must have been used and so it was probably something made in the late 50's.

I know it took great pictures because I used it to photograph several album covers (LPs - I do remember them!) for a record company. I still have them but naturally the make of camera isn't shown!

Anybody around then who has a better memory? I'd be indebted....
Bill
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=181768\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Thanks for all the input. I explored the site and decided I had the first version of the camera - the later versions did not have the periscope visible externally.

There are several on eBay - and they do command good prices - several hundred dollars.

Bill

[Paul Kay]

I borrowed the Periflex camera from my local camera shop. It proved to be a Periflex 2 and is in pretty good condition and works other than the slow shutter speeds are SLOW. Its actually quite fascinating as it seems to have a glass pressure plate pressed onto the film by a thin foam backing! It appears quite well made although the lens is an all aluminium construction and very light (its a Lumax 45mm f/2.. The Cofield link shows it well. If anyone is interested, the camera shop have it for sale at £125 and if I am pm'd I'll pass on their contact details (I have nothing to do with them other than buying too much gear from them and finding them very helpful in return - they loan me all sorts of odds and ends and are generally a helpful LOCAL dealer).