Perfex in the UK

<p>My local shop has always got a good selection of film gear - they dont really 'do' digital - and a rather interesting US camera has appeared in the window. I have never seen one before - are they worth getting or are they just trouble waiting to happen?</p>

<p>I have included a full window shot and also one homed in on the Perfex in question.</p>

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<p>...this Perfex for 30 notes</p><div></div>

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<p>"or are they just trouble waiting to happen?"</p>

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<p>Usually they are trouble that has already happened. Mostly you find these Perfex not working or not working 100%.</p>

<p>If you want to have fun, buy the good looking box camera.</p>

<p>I wonder how they survive not doing digital these days. A good film userbase in your area perhaps? If it works you should buy it!<br>

My local 2nd hand camera shop in one of the arcades comes across as a little dodgy. They have sold me faulty old lenses in the past.</p>

<p>Well, some of the Perfexes do work. Slow speeds are unlikely to work where they are present.</p>

<p>The Fifty-five is the most common model, but there aren't a lot of changes among the various versions.</p>

<p>Here's my report on the Perfex Forty-four: http://www.photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00XuEu<br>

I also have the original model (the Speed Candid) and the later Fifty-five, but haven't got around to them yet.</p>

<p>One of the Perfex models took the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trinity_shot_color.jpg">first color picture of an a-bomb exploding</a> - at the original Trinity site.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>$30? I'd buy it. As a budding camera repairman/restorer, I love a challenge. But then, if I'm to believe friends and family, I'm a little nuts. Where exactly is this shop? Do any of the proceeds go to charity?</p>

<p>I'm with Tom on this, I have two of the buggers (currently both in pieces for some hot parts swapping). The shutter will be iffy at best. The shutter cloth will probably be full of holes, curtain straps will probably be worn through<br>

The rest of the camera is pretty easy to work on though.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I imagine they don't really 'do' digital because they could not compete with ebay, Warehouse Express, Amazon, and the other internet-based <em>'pile 'em high and flog 'em cheap</em>' outlets. They would just get left with unsold and obsolete stock. Most of the traditional camera shops round my way (London area) are either parts of chains, or have moved away from London to do internet sales, or have closed. Good luck to them.</p>

<p>Where is this wonderful shop?</p>

<p>If that was my local shop I would snap up that Ful-Vue. They are rather uncommon on this side of the Atlantic.</p>

<p>I don't know about the fifty-five, but I have a Perfex forty-four in fairly rough condition that was the source of many, many hours of fun for me as a teenager. Its slow-speed shutter was similar to its high-speed shutter, in that a slit would move across the focal plane, except at a very slow speed. I think the break was around 1/25 s, so I could use panning and twisting motions to stretch, compress, and twist my images. It was truly a BLAST in pre-digital, pre-PhotoShop photography! :-) I don't know whether the fifty-five has the same sort of shutter mechanism, but play with it to see.</p>

<p>Anyway, yes, I would buy that fifty-five for $30 in a heartbeat. Shipping from the UK might be another matter, though. ;-)</p>

<p>If the american -made "semi Leica clones had used the<br>

same lensmount as the leica, there would be more interest<br>

and perhaps folks out there willing to repair them<br>

as it is, with a unique lens mount, and<br>

St the timr these cameras were manufactured we were at war with germany.<br>

Possibly american laws still prevented making close clones of german designs.<br>

As I understand it there was a demand for cameras for the US military, and some , if not all, of these small "leaica like" cameras were manufactured for this purpose.<br>

I know of three small cameras the Perfrex, detrola and kardon.<br>

none used a 39mm lens mount.</p>

 

<p>Walter, the value of a Perfex, to me, is its uniqueness. Its design incorporates several clever innovations that would have kept the cost of the camera low. My favorite design feature is a grayscale panel that is used for guesstimating exposure. One's accuracy at setting exposure by this grayscale is far more accurate than most people would think. Also I think the slow-speed shutter mechanism is brilliant! I don't know how many of these cost-shaving features are present in the fifty-five. Anyway, my beat-up Perfex is one of my favorites in my collection.</p>

<p>Jody and Sarah, the price is £30 that's $48 in your funny money.</p>

<p>See Rick Oleson's take on the Fifty-Five:</p>

<p><a href="

<p>Thanks for the input - I will try it carefully to make sure it all works - I think it should as the shop rejects non-functioning gear. Steve, the shop is in St. Albans, Hertfordshire - and the left window is Canon FD then next is Nikon and Minolta then this window then there is the Leica and some used digital gear. Nice range of film too - and Fuji Reala too which I don't see anywhere else.</p>

<p>The Ful-Vue caught my eye too but then I really should leave it for someone else.</p>

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<p>the shop is in St. Albans, Hertfordshire</p>

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<p>I *knew* that shop window looked familiar. Good to see that they are still open; my local in north London closed a couple years ago.</p>

<p>The slow speed timer in the 55 was much more robust than the one in the 44, and was probably the reason that the 55 came out just a year later. The front knob is like the slow speeds on an Exakta, you have to wind the knob before each shot for slow speeds.<br>

Biggest problem to watch for on the Perfex is failing to cap, or gapping open during winding. Fading at the highest speeds is of course a risk with any cloth shutter of that age, as are pinholes; I don't know if these problems are any greater with the Perfex than anything else, except that the shutter is not really designed for easy adjustment.<br>

The biggest durability issue is that the "ribbons" are just extensions of the shutter curtain fabric, and so are not as strong as proper woven ribbons; but Perfex were not the only ones to do that either. I would not use it heavily, but it should be fun for an occasional roll of film.</p>

<p>Hi, Ian I guess that US-made Perfex in the shop window might just have been courtesy of a US serviceman based iu the UK during WW2. Then again, the world is a much smaller place these days thanks to Fleabay, Google and such, so it could have been bought by a UK collector much more recently. I know that happens, because I got my own very nice Perfex 55 one late night on Fleabay US! I'm pretty sure they were never exported outside the US of A during WW2 years, but I'm not so sure about the post-WW2 1945 onwards period, before the Fat Lady Finally Sang for the Perfex Company.</p>

<p>One of the guys in our local Camera Collectors Club once brought along a really daggy-looking Perfex, minus leatherette, for the 'Show-and-Tell'. It was a very sad story. His family had leased a hotel in Fremantle for many years, and it had been a favourite watering hole for USN submariners based there during WW2. One of them had been short of funds just before payday, and left his Perfex - I don't know which model - as 'security' for his drinking tab. (Trust me, been there and done that myself - being a former RN submariner!) Such items were traditionally left behind the bar, to be redeemed when funds were better, etc, etc. </p>

<p>Well, the guy never returned to collect his Perfex, and some discrete enquiries to other USN submariners revealed his sub had likely gone down with all hands in the Pacific somewhere. So what to do? Nobody could come up with any next of kin to get in touch with. Now Navy guys are traditionally superstitious about such things, and consequently so are the folks in home ports who get to deal with them. Meanwhile the Perfex stayed behind the bar over the years, because nobody wanted to be the one to finally dispose of it. </p>

<p>Finally a few years ago the lease ran out on the Fremantle hotel, and the now-bare 70-YO Perfex along with several other ancient items behid the bar, just had to go. So my pal in the camera club reluctantly acquired it, and brought it along to our Cam Club meeting. I have to admit I had to hold back a few tears.</p>

<p>PETE IN PERTH</p>

<p> </p>

48$ seems like a lot. I think they do come up in various stages of deterioration. I've seen some pretty lowball prices on Fleabaywithin the USA. So of course they are a bit exotic outside the States. I like the uniqness of them and for this reason alone.. I want one and I also want an early or original Argus too. I am a " nach gelegenheit" (present and avalable) collector. In fact I shun the word collector ...thing come into my possesion -or don't. Great write-up on Stephen Gandy's Cameraquest page. http://www.cameraquest.com/perfex.htm

<p>I don't know .... I'd consider $30-40 fair in the States, and eBay sellers don't have to pay the upkeep on that store. I think $48 in a store in the UK is a pretty decent price.</p>

<p>Nice story Pete, thanks for sharing.</p>

<p>Like with the argus, if you want to survice the shutter you'll have to remove the leatherette on the front to get at the screws.</p>

<p>Chuck I know what you mean about 'naar gelegenheid', though I'm usually out of spending cash when something really nice does pop up; Like a few days ago on Ebay, JDM you'll like this:<br>

<a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Graflex-Combat-Graphic-45-4x5-Military-Signal-Corps-Camera-/280785603431?_trksid=p5197.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D4832893709252871377">Graflex Combat Graphic 4x5 </a></p>

<p>Thanks for sharing that story Peter - I thought it was an unusual and interesting camera and these memories confirm that. I am almost thinking it is better to leave it in that window display where it can have more admirers that stuff it in a draw out of sight.<br>

Thanks also for that link Chuck.</p>