What 35mm camera took 24 x 32 frames in 1939?

So, I neglected to unpack all the little boxes that came with some old cameras a

couple years ago and when I did, I found a roll of Dupont 35mm B&W film. The

problem is I don't know which old camera it came with. The frame size is 24mm x

32mm which was also known as the Japanese format used in the first Nikon RF's in

1947. However, this film was shot in 1939-40 since the images are

(conveniently) all from the 1939 NY World's Fair. I have no idea what 35mm

camera shot 24mm x 32mm frame size in 1939 and I was hoping some one could tell

me so I could match the camera with the film. I've attached three of the photos

digitized with my D70, and processed using PS. The film contrast is very low

and the original images are not well focused, so this is the best I could do.

Thanks.<div></div>

Another of the Sear & Roebuck building

...and the Italian pavilion

I looked up several odd ones, Robot, Rectaflex, Minion, and all were after your target date. Was the film Perforated 35MM. From the looks of the pics, there seems to be severe sharpness falloff at the edges, so I would look for a suspect with a coke bottle lens. When all else fails, you could measure the film gate of all your cameras that were made 1939 and prior.

David, I think your best canddate is the QRS Kamra made by the Devry Corp of Chicago. This was a bakelite brick shaped camera that took 24x32 sized frames.

 

http://corsopolaris.net/supercameras/early/early_1352.html

The date for the GRS given by McK is 1928 so that fits.

 

I seem to remember the original Krauss Peggy also took 24x32mm sized frames but I can't confirm that and I may be mistaken. In any case the US made QRS is more likely as it would be closer to home.

Yes OMG -- I think the QRS is the one. One of the cameras that arrived in this bunch of boxes was a QRS with a bunch of film cartridges and this was in one of them. Fantastic... I had completely forgotten and the QRS is somewhere packed in boxes. I'll get it out tomorrow and reunite them.

 

I checked the log and found the images from the auction. You can see the film cartridges.

 

Thanks ...and Ken, I was sitting here with my wifes calipers measuring away and getting no where.

 

Ciao from Italy.

 

David<div></div>

I think the New York World's Fair ran from 1939 through 1941.

The World's Fair opened on April 30, 1939 and closed Oct. 27, 1940. It was open only from April through October for the two seasons. I found quite a few places that say that the 24mm x 32mm format was first used by Nikon in 1947, but I realized that couldn't be true. I'm going to work on digitizing the rest of the images to see what I can get in addition to the three above. Anyway, I can see that the QRS camera wasn't very good.

 

David

Nice colour bakelite body though!

Isn't this the mixture of resin and cotton rags? Sort of homemade Bakelite, I suppose.

Wikipedia says that Bakelite is a phenol resin with usually a wood flour filler. I suppose cotton rags could have been ground up too. I quite like the old 1920's and 30's bakelite cameras. They are always attractive but I suspect most of them were more fashion items than serious cameras.

 

My personal favourite is the Coronet Vogue. Here it is posing for its portrait along with your QRS.

 

http://www.geocities.com/mbarel.geo/m_bakelite.html

Yes Bakelite is the first commercial plastic and is made from resins and fillers. When cleaning this camera do NOT use alcohol or lens cleaner on the body. Warm water is recommended for Bakelite. If you use alcohol it will melt the Bakelite causing dull spots in the finish and releasing that wonderful formaldehyde smell. Beautiful camera... Ive seen cars recently painted to look like this... "bowling ball" rag finish I think they call it.

Unfortunately, the QRS was cracked when it arrived though it still looks good if you don't look too closely. The crank is in fragments, as usually happens with this camera. I have digitized 22 salvageable frames on the old film and I now understand how the camera got cracked. The guy saw the crummy photos of their trip to New York in 1939 and immediately threw it in a box in the basement. 68 years later some dummy buys it on eBay. There's a moral to this story somewhere, there must be. Auguri!

 

David

Ah...I found it. McKeown's is where I got the cotton rag idea. He mentions that it was made of phenolic resin and cotton rags. In fact, you can actually see the cotton rags fragments embedded all over the camera body. I intend to shoot this camera and the woven cotton and put it on the web site along with all of the salvaged photos.

 

David

Bakelite was not the first commercial plastic. Which is actually a composite like fiberglass or carbon fiber.

 

Celluloid is. It is created from nitrocellulose and camphor, plus dyes and other agents. Generally regarded to be the first thermoplastic.

That looks similar to the Ansco Memo I once had (wooden body) It had the same funky casettes, but was half frame. I now wish I hadn't sold that one, because I would like to see what it could do with modern film loaded. Some just seem to get away---So many cameras, So little time.