Friday, September 13, 2019

Vokar (1946-1948)

The immediate post-Second World War era saw the revival of pre-war camera companies as well as the emergence of a few new companies to make products to fill the gap left by the yet to recover German camera industry. Vokar Corp. (formerly Electronic Products Manufacturing) had developed a couple of camera models immediately before WWII and was able to get a 35 mm camera in production during the Fall of 1946. The slightly different Vokar II came out in 1948. The Vokar had a body assembled from pressed metal parts with a three element f/2.8 50 mm lens in a leaf shutter that ran from 1/300 to 1 second plus bulb. It had a combined coincident range finder and viewfinder. The lens focused as close as 4 ft. The Vokar cameras were not successful - they didn't survive long enough to appear in the 1950 Popular Photography camera directory. The most successful Vokar product was a chemical solution to fix scratches on film. It is still available under the name Edwal No-Scratch. The Vokar camera isn't a bad looking design. Like a lot of 35 mm cameras of the era, including the original Leica, the Vokar doesn't have strap lugs. To wear it around your neck you need to put it into its leather carrying case. The shutter speeds slower than 1/300 second stick on my camera, which is a sign that the shutter needs cleaning. I don't think I am going to try to make this a user camera.

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