Before Leica there was the American made 1914 Simplex !

[CameraQuest]

American made 35mm camera offered for public sale in 1914

The Johnny-Come-Lately Leica A
did not make it to the marketplace until 1925.

http://cameraquest.com/simplex.htm

Stephen

 

[jsrockit]

So damn cool! Thanks for taking the time.

 

[Keith]

Great information.

My oh my .... wasn't the Simplex a pretty camera! 😱

😛

 

[Ezzie]

Interesting write up as usual. Thanks Stephen.

400 exposures? Imagine hanging up that roll to dry.

 

[Keith]

And in 1895 America gave us the hamburger ... also quite successful globaly! 😀

 

[vrgard]

Fascinating. Thanks, Stephen, for sharing that information.

 

[Spider67]

Great Discovery!

 

[Roger Hicks]

Indeed, there were about two dozen other 35mm still cameras before the Leica. The TWO American leaders were the Tourist Multiple 1913 and the Simplex (1914).

http://corsopolaris.net/supercameras/early/early_135.html is good.

See also A History of the 35m Still Camera, The Focal Press, 1984, by yours truly.

Cheers,

R.

 

[rxmd]

And indeed about two dozen other 35mm still cameras. The TWO American leaders were the Tourist Multiple 1913 and the Simplex (1914).

http://corsopolaris.net/supercameras/early/early_135.html is good.

Cheers,

R.

And Oskar Barnack, when creating his Leica up to 1913, allegedly was aware of some of them, such as the development that led to the 1915 "Minigraph" by Levy Roth in Berlin.

I guess 35mm film photography was very much an emergent idea in the 1910s and 1920s, one experimented with by lots of people at once that led to breakthroughs by a few of them - much like cars in the 1880s and 1890s.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I guess 35mm film photography was very much an emergent idea in the 1910s and 1920s, one experimented with by lots of people at once that led to breakthroughs by a few of them - much like cars in the 1880s and 1890s.

This must surely be the case, with 35mm still camera patents going back to 1908. About half the cameras on the site I linked were prototypes, but the rest were made more-or-less commercially -- "less" when they failed to sell, "more" when they sold...

Cheers,

R.

 

[bensyverson]

So this thing took 50 foot rolls? 800 full frame shots should be about 50'.

Edit: and have you seen this site?

 

[ronnies]

So this thing took 50 foot rolls? 800 full frame shots should be about 50'.

Edit: and have you seen this site?

Isn't that the same site Roger posted above? 🙄

Ronnie

 

[MaxElmar]

Great articles like this one show why I've been a fan of the Head Bartender's site for a long, long time! Well done.

 

[oftheherd]

CameraQuest - Thanks for such a great and informative article.

Roger Hicks - That was a great site you provided a link to. Thanks.

 

[newspaperguy]

Thank you Stephen for another great post!

Rick

 

[charjohncarter]

Interesting post, too bad no images.

 

[CameraQuest]

Indeed, there were about two dozen other 35mm still cameras before the Leica. The TWO American leaders were the Tourist Multiple 1913 and the Simplex (1914).

http://corsopolaris.net/supercameras/early/early_135.html is good.

See also A History of the 35m Still Camera, The Focal Press, 1984, by yours truly.

Cheers,

R.

yes, but info is so scarce that it is unclear whether the Simplex or the Tourist Multiple made it to the marketplace first. That is why I cited the now hard to find Shutterbug articles. Still, apparently the Simplex was the first full frame 35mm offered commercially for sale - SFAIK anyway.


Stephen

 

[NeeZee]

fascinating.
looking at the different designs in that second link i can understand why barnack often gets the credits for 35mm photography, though. most of the earlier designs basically look like movie cameras held horizontally.

 

[rhl-oregon]

The lazy-rectangle of the Simplex (opposed to the upright rectangle of the Barnack) had its descendents in 110, not to mention Minox spycams. The best, though, is the Fisher Price Pocket Camera: http://www.retrothing.com/2010/02/fisher-price-110-camera-for-pretend-paparazzi.html.

 

[Roger Hicks]

yes, but info is so scarce that it is unclear whether the Simplex or the Tourist Multiple made it to the marketplace first.

Dear Stephen,

Very true. To quote Jason Schneider, "There is always some obscure Lithuanian tinsmith with a prior claim."

Cheers,

R.