Other/Uncategorized Corfield Periflex Book

[jlancasterd]

Can anyone help me locate a copy of:

'Its by Corfield - it must be good: The Periflex Story" by John E Lewis?

I've tried emailing the address given on the Corfield Cameras site, but it doesn't seem to be active.

I had a Periflex 'Gold Star' as my first 'proper' camera in 1960, before I saw the light and got an M2...

 

[Charles Woodhouse]

Hi John,
I bought a copy of 'The Periflex Story' on Ebay from David Cole in Wolverhampton back in February. His Ebay I.D. is sam_gran and I think it was his spare copy because it was in as new condition. But if I were you I would keep searching Ebay under Periflex.

 

[jlancasterd]

Hi John,
I bought a copy of 'The Periflex Story' on Ebay from David Cole in Wolverhampton back in February. His Ebay I.D. is sam_gran and I think it was his spare copy because it was in as new condition. But if I were you I would keep searching Ebay under Periflex.

Thanks Charles

I've just managed to find a mint copy of this book and am now reading it - it's even more interesting than I'd expected and I'm now wondering about trying to find a working example of a Periflex 3a or 3b to remind myself of how they handled. MW have a late (silver anodised) model 1 on offer, but they don't say that it is actually working - and that model was slower and more difficult to use than the later models with an automatic periscope.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Now I'll make you jealous.

My copy is inscribed, "To Roger with all good wishes -- Ken"

I didn't want to mention this until you'd got a copy -- but isn't it a fascinating book?

I first met Sir Kenneth through someone we had both known for years. He warmed to me when, a few minutes after we met, I said, "Any fool can run a multinational company -- but a man who designs cameras is worth meeting."

He is one of those people who pays you the compliment of assuming that you know as much as he does, even when that is patently not the case, and talking to you as an equal. But you'd better be on your toes, because he REALLY knows what he is talking about.

I've had two Periflex 35mm cameras and (briefly) the 66, and for cost-effective cameras they were amazing -- though not the easiest on earth to use. One of the 35s was a fully operational second series Periflex (i.e. black paint but not pigskin, 1953-55) and the other was a barely functioning Periflex 3.

Cheers,

R.

 

[fotobiblios]

Just for the record, I have a (shutter curtains stuck, otherwise OK, with usual stains on pigskin) pigskin first model - (note -- the serial no is 2255, despite the book suggesting the highest pigskin no. was lower than this) - with Lumar 50 f3.5 no 2272 and Lumar 100 f4 no 721038.

Danny -- fotobiblios

 

[jlancasterd]

Now I'll make you jealous.

My copy is inscribed, "To Roger with all good wishes -- Ken"

I didn't want to mention this until you'd got a copy -- but isn't it a fascinating book?

I first met Sir Kenneth through someone we had both known for years. He warmed to me when, a few minutes after we met, I said, "Any fool can run a multinational company -- but a man who designs cameras is worth meeting."

He is one of those people who pays you the compliment of assuming that you know as much as he does, even when that is patently not the case, and talking to you as an equal. But you'd better be on your toes, because he REALLY knows what he is talking about.

I've had two Periflex 35mm cameras and (briefly) the 66, and for cost-effective cameras they were amazing -- though not the easiest on earth to use. One of the 35s was a fully operational second series Periflex (i.e. black paint but not pigskin, 1953-55) and the other was a barely functioning Periflex 3.

Cheers,

R.

Hi Roger

It sounds as though you have a good copy of the book. Mine is signed by the author, but that's not nearly as good as having it signed by Kenneth Corfield himself.

I found the book fascinating as much for the insights into how British industry operated in the 1950s when it was still recovering from WW2 as for the technical details of the cameras and lenses - although that was interesting enough. I hadn't realised just how much demand there was for Periflexes either - although I do remember having to settle for a Gold Star rather than the 3a I really wanted in August 1960, because the 3a was back-ordered at the time. I was going on holiday ('overseas' in the Isle of Man!) and wanted to take a camera with me to photograph the railways and tramways there.

Incidentally the 1960 date above is *not* an aberration - I really did buy a Gold Star that year, although the book says it wasn't available until 1961 - I still have my notebooks from 1960 and I bought the camera in Manchester on either 31 July or 1 August. I'd spent several weeks doing a holiday job in Boots warehouse in Heywood to raise the cash.