The Unobtainables.

While not entirely unobtainable, some American 35 mm cameras are very rare and expensive - too rare and expensive for me.

1. The Kodak Ektra Camera by Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY. In the late '30s, Eastman Kodak Company set out to make a system camera of the same class as the Zeiss Ikon Contax or the Ernst Leitz Leica. The result was the Kodak Ektra Camera, which had the misfortune to come out in late 1941, just before civilian camera production was stopped because of WWII. Kodak did not revive production after the war because the selling price would have to have been more than the market could bear in order to cover the cost of making the camera. Roughly 2,500 cameras were made with an original list price of $325.00, which had a buying power of about $5,400 depreciated 2020 dollars. Examples appear on eBay occasionally for more than $2,000. Kodak Ektra on Flickr by Benjamin C.

2. The Bell & Howell Foton by Bell & Howell Company, Chicago, IL. Bell and Howell decided after WWII to bring out an expensive system camera that was a market failure because of the price. The original list price in 1948 was $700, which had a buying power of about $7,700 depreciated 2020 dollars. Leitz and Zeiss could sell excellent cameras for half the price and the Foton did not sell well. Bell & Howell Foton on Flickr by John Bosko.

3. The Kardon camera by Premier Instrument Corporation, New York, NY. Premier Instrument Corporation won from the U.S. Army Signal Corps a contract to make a U.S. version of the Leica IIIa, but the end of the war reduced the Army's requirement for new cameras and the civilian version did not sell well. The list price for the civilian version in 1950 was $262.50 exclusive of the 25% federal excise tax, or $328 with tax, which would be about $3,300 in 2020 dollars. Examples appear on eBay for over $2,000. Eastman Kodak Company made the standard lens for the Kardon and put the same lens on one version of the Retina II made by Kodak AG in Germany in the immediate post-WWII period. Kardon Camera on Flickr by Christopher Chen

4. The Detrola 400 by Detrola Corporation, Detroit, MI. Detrola was making radios and 127 format cameras in the '30s when it decided to produce a 35 mm camera in imitation of the Candid Camera Corporation of America's Perfex line. The advertised price in 1940 was $69.50. The product was unsuccessful and only about 800 were made. Detrola 400 on Flickr by Rick Oleson.

5. The Zephyr Candid Camera by Photographic Industries of America, New York, NY. Supposedly made in 1938. I've seen only a copy of advertising art. Advertisement on Flickr by sunivroc

LOMO Lubitel 166 Universal (1993)

The LOMO Lubitel 166 Universal is a twin lens reflex camera for size 120 film. "Lubitel" in Russian means "amateur." LOMO stood for "Leningrad Optical and Mechanical Association" (roughly). My camera was made in 1993 according to the serial number, 93032341, on the bottom. The first two numbers give the year the camera was made. It is marked "Made in USSR" although by 1993 the USSR was already two years gone. Possibly a million Lubitels were made.

Front

Back

The camera has a molded plastic body with a tripod socket and an accessory shoe. The camera makes either twelve 6x6cm or sixteen 6x4.5cm pictures on a roll of 120 film, but my camera is missing the 6x4.5 attachments. The lens is an f/4.5 75mm coated triplet in a leaf shutter. Close focusing distance is 1.3 meters. Shutter speeds are 1/250, 1/125. 1/60, 1/30, 1/15 and bulb. The shutter is synchronized for flash and has a self timer, although the self timer on mine does not work. Other features include a film speed reminder dial and a waist level brilliant finder with a ground glass circle in the center for focusing. The ground glass can be magnified by a flip-up magnifier in the finder hood. The front of the finder hood folds in to make a sports finder. There is a little red window in the back of the camera to read the picture numbers on the backing paper.
The Lomography company in Vienna, Austria, offers new Lubitel 166+ cameras, made in China, for rather a lot of money. If you're pining for a Lubitel, it would be cheaper to find an original on eBay instead of going for the expensive imitation. LOMO apparently is still in business in St Peterburg, Russia.

[Update] The taking lens accepts 40.5mm thread-in filters.