Camera Parlance: «Automatic», «Fully Automatic», Meaning Before ~1970?

[radi(c)al_cam]

Time travellers, I have a question!

When and why did the camera makers start to use the term «automatic», or even «fully automatic», and what did it mean then?

— AFAIK, it was decades before I was born, but many of you here are a tad older than me, so I expect you can and will answer that 😀


cf. here, Leica M5 «automatic» prototype: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=705695

 

[sevo]

The oldest cameras I have with "automatic" in the name used it to describe "automatic 120 film transport" (i.e. no need for a red window). Next came double coupled cameras (which transported by counter AND cocked the shutter at the same time) - in their period considered "automatic" cameras as they fully reset for the next exposure using the transport knob or lever alone. That all was entirely mechanical, and before electrical exposure metering (let alone AE) had been integrated into cameras.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Don't forget "automatic focusing" with a coupled rangefinder: common usage in the 1930s. It was called "automatic" to distinguish it from uncoupled rangefinders where you had to transfer the reading from the rangefinder tp the lens.

Cheers,

R.

 

[ForestCap]

"AF" meant Auto Flash on some pre-1980s cameras . E.g. Yashica Electro 35 GX

 

[radi(c)al_cam]

Hi,

From memory, the model II was called auto-focus or auto-focal because it had the coupled RF built in. I expect the word's been around and used a lot longer; hype has a long history.

Regards, David

Don't forget "automatic focusing" with a coupled rangefinder: common usage in the 1930s. It was called "automatic" to distinguish it from uncoupled rangefinders where you had to transfer the reading from the rangefinder tp the lens.

Cheers,

R.

I know I can trust my British friends, dear Roger, and dear David! 🙂
I guess you and I have quite the same books by certain British authors at home, and also those where some reproductions of ancient camera-magazine advertisements are 🙂

 

[radi(c)al_cam]

The oldest cameras I have with "automatic" in the name used it to describe "automatic 120 film transport" (i.e. no need for a red window). Next came double coupled cameras (which transported by counter AND cocked the shutter at the same time) - in their period considered "automatic" cameras as they fully reset for the next exposure using the transport knob or lever alone. That all was entirely mechanical, and before electrical exposure metering (let alone AE) had been integrated into cameras.

Hmmm … hence e.g. Yashicamat, I suppose?

 

[Bill Clark]

Automatic has meant different things during different times and people because of the various uses of the term. I believe, the name was a marketing tool for the manufacturer to use selling their products. It was and is used to differentiate their items from the competition, seemingly giving their products the latest and greatest technology available at the time.

Other industries use the word "automatic." Cars have been described using things like automatic transmissions to the technology in development today like autonomous driving.

Interesting articles on autofocus:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autofocus

http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Honeywell

I find the term used loosely. Some facts and some illusion.

 

[css9450]

Very early SLRs used "automatic" in their advertising to describe various functions which we all now take for granted, like an instant-return mirror, or a meter which was coupled to the shutter speed dial and aperture ring...

Our old Minolta SR1 was described as "semi-automatic" because its accessory light meter engaged the shutter speed dial but you had to see which aperture its needle was pointing at and then set the recommended aperture on the lens yourself. An early "shutter priority" system I suppose!

 

[johnnyrod]

I have some 1960s RFs and "automatic" was often used for centre-the-needle metering - centre it and the exposure is automatically right (unquote from the manual) as opposed to match needle and transferring the values yourself. Later it could also mean auto exposure via auto aperture e.g. Zeiss Contessamat, you just have to choose a suitable shutter speed, so actually more like real automation. I've heard about a coupled RF also being called automatic, as said above.

 

[skopar steve]

SLR's also used the term for automatic diaphragm. So you no longer had to open up the aperture to focus, then close down the aperture for exposing.

 

[radi(c)al_cam]

In a British 1938 ad, I found many things that were «automatic», e.g.: «automatic exposure counter» — I suppose, that's an auto-resetting frame counter.

… and in fact, that must have been quite an advance then, since e.g. quite many cameras of the late 1950s (or even later) still had frame counters that one had to reset manually.

 

[johnnyrod]

Or simply one that counts the frames - back then there were still plenty of MF cameras using red windows

 

[radi(c)al_cam]

Or simply one that counts the frames - back then there were still plenty of MF cameras using red windows

That's true, of course. The camera I was referring to was not a Medium format but a 13x18mm, using «reloadable cassettes» (hence I suppose: without paper backsides).

 

[David Hughes]

In a British 1938 ad, I found many things that were «automatic», e.g.: «automatic exposure counter» — I suppose, that's an auto-resetting frame counter.

… and in fact, that must have been quite an advance then, since e.g. quite many cameras of the late 1950s (or even later) still had frame counters that one had to reset manually.

Hi,

Like the Leica M2, perhaps?

Regards, David