Quite Possibly the Smallest Interchangable RF

[trittium]

The picture is of a Robot with RF attachment and 75mm lens. This camera is sooooo tiny. Nice glass too. It has a motor drive and takes square 24x24 pictures. I cannot get over how sweet it is.

Sample Shots with 37.5mm Schneider Xenar

 

[Athena]

I'm confused. I see a Leica humping a little camera - I think. Or is the little camera an attachment to the Leica?

Which is this Robot?

Are these two cameras or is this robot thing an attachment to Leicas? If so, are their adapter rings so it can attach to othre RFs?

Oh, and how is it "interchangeable"?

 

[RdEoSg]

The camera in front is called a Robot. Not sure which version that one is. I may be wrong but I believe it was the first motorized camera. You'd crank it up like a toy and it held it in tension and would automaticly advance the film after each shot. Sweet little cameras.. expensive too!

 

[trittium]

Chris is right, the robot it the camera in front. The leica is for size reference. This model is the robot II. The robot has interchangable lenses which are screw mount, I beleive m29. Lenses were made by Zeiss and Shneider.

 

[jlw]

I had known about the Robot line of cameras (the parent company was Otto Berning) but had never seen the accessory rangefinder before.

Could you post some more pictures of it and a description of how it attaches and works?

(PS -- The later Robot Royal had a built-in rangefinder and is a very studly-looking camera. Here's a picture of it from the lumieresenboite site:

The Royal 36 model even made conventional 24x36mm frames! Surely there has to be somebody on RFF who uses one...)

(PPS -- Hardly the first motorized camera, though. The French got there first with Japy's Le Pascale of 1898!)

 

[trittium]

Could you post some more pictures of it and a description of how it attaches and works?

Sure Thing. The RF attachment attaches to the lens mount. It works by measuring the extenesion of the lens. There is an arm that rests on the lens to measure changes in focus. This moves the mirror above it. There is a yellow filter that covers the viewfinder and inside the yellow filter is a small silver mirror that is at a fixed angle. This relays the change in the focal length from the the mirror that changes with the lens. The patch looks blueish compared to the yellow viewfinder. The rf attachment works with the 37.5, 40, and 75mm focal length lenses

 

[trittium]

one more image

 

[jlw]

Wow -- an accessory combined, coupled rangefinder that works with multiple focal lengths! I admit that I'm a total geek when it comes to obscure/strange/interesting rangefinder mechanisms, but this absolutely makes my day! I love it when I encounter a rangefinder system I had never seen before.

Until now I thought the "Rolleimeter" attachment for Rollei TLRs was the ultimate in sheer loopy add-on rangefinder brilliance, but I have to admit this one takes the biscuit!

I don't suppose there's any provision for altering the viewfinder to cover the various focal lengths it accepts...?

Also, how does it handle in practice? Is it fiddly to use (changing lenses, for example) or reasonably convenient?

 

[trittium]

Wow -- an accessory combined, coupled rangefinder that works with multiple focal lengths! I admit that I'm a total geek when it comes to obscure/strange/interesting rangefinder mechanisms, but this absolutely makes my day! I love it when I encounter a rangefinder system I had never seen before.

Until now I thought the "Rolleimeter" attachment for Rollei TLRs was the ultimate in sheer loopy add-on rangefinder brilliance, but I have to admit this one takes the biscuit!

I don't suppose there's any provision for altering the viewfinder to cover the various focal lengths it accepts...?

Also, how does it handle in practice? Is it fiddly to use (changing lenses, for example) or reasonably convenient?

I don't know if there is a way to alter it for different lenses, but I would say no there isn't. These are the main lenses for this camera anyway. Other focal lengths exist, but they are extremely rare. Handling is suprisingly easy. It works like any other rangefinder camera. To change lenses all you do is lift up the lever, turn it to the side, replace the lens, then put the lever back. It is truely impressive when you think about it.