This camera was once described (by me, in another forum several years ago) as "so ugly it's pretty". I'm not necessarily willing to admit the pretty part nowadays, although I am captivated by the design of this camera.
Originally produced in 1939 as the "Galter Press Flash", this was the very first camera ever to have an attached flash. I have no idea in which year my model was produced.
Constructed mostly of Bakelite, the Spartus Press Flash is a simple box camera with one shutter speed, "T" and "I" settings, and a single-element lens. It shoots eight 6x9 images on 120 film.
The images shown here following the camera portraits were shot in May 2009 as a test roll. The film was Ultrafine + 100, developed in D-76, 1:1, for 7 minutes after a 2-min. pre-soak.
I am more than pleased with the sharpness of these pics -- not bad for a cheap, consumer-grade box camera.
Note: This is yet another camera that has left my hands! A buddy of mine, with whom I've made several other trades, wanted this real bad, so I let him have it for his Voigtlander Brilliant TLR from 1937. I guess you'll be seeing that photo album pretty soon!
Originally produced in 1939 as the "Galter Press Flash", this was the very first camera ever to have an attached flash. I have no idea in which year my model was produced.
Constructed mostly of Bakelite, the Spartus Press Flash is a simple box camera with one shutter speed, "T" and "I" settings, and a single-element lens. It shoots eight 6x9 images on 120 film.
The images shown here following the camera portraits were shot in May 2009 as a test roll. The film was Ultrafine + 100, developed in D-76, 1:1, for 7 minutes after a 2-min. pre-soak.
I am more than pleased with the sharpness of these pics -- not bad for a cheap, consumer-grade box camera.
Note: This is yet another camera that has left my hands! A buddy of mine, with whom I've made several other trades, wanted this real bad, so I let him have it for his Voigtlander Brilliant TLR from 1937. I guess you'll be seeing that photo album pretty soon!
