Some thoughts on American cameras

I think there's a general perception of Swiss (and also German) workmanship standing for precision which may not be equally strong in regards to American workmanship. Of course it's a cliché and there's no reason why an American camera shouldn't be just as good a Swiss one but clichés are important when it comes to brands. Remember that the company name is not just "ALPA", it's "ALPA of Switzerland" and also it's not just "Arca", it's "Arca Swiss". In comparison, I don't know if "Graflex" would inspire the same confidence in the minds of people who will pay top dollar for a precision camera.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
Classic American camera- Polaroid.

Maybe the last American Made SLR made in large quantities, the Polaroid SLR680. The SLR690 is a good recreation, was produced by Polaroid Japan. I have one of each.

On the Graphics- they just keep working. I gave away 2 of them, traded a third.
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i can vouch that one of them & it's 127/4.7 Ektar is still going strong. i've also rebuilt a nearly destroyed Crown from 1962 into a working field camera.

if one were to be built with the same simplicity and strength, i'd think there would be a small niche for a Graflex rebirth. That said, it would need to be a second business for someone who could do it for love and for the tax write off.

Perhaps a recreation of the Century Graphic with roll holders and a digital back that looks and acts something like the cut sheet holder of old but with a memory card rather than a 2x3 sheet? Real red leather bellows & a bit more movements up front, say like the Super Speed's? That might find a few customers but it would probably not be economically viable.
 
What would be the market? What would they sell and to whom?
  1. The DSLR market is already really crowded: Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Sony, Pentax
  2. The high end for product/fashion is really crowded: Leica, Nikon, Canon,
  3. The film market is crowded with a vast used market, Cosina, and Leica.
  4. The mirrorless market has: Sony, Olympus, Fuji, and Sigma
  5. Point and shoot cameras will die faster than film. (People who used P&S cameras now just use their iPhones)
  6. Panoramic camera market has Horizon, Noblex, Widelux, Linhoff, Fuji
  7. Technical camera market has Horseman and Linhoff
  8. Instant camera market has Polaroid
  9. The crappy camera market is dominated by Lomo
The large market already has a ton of players who have economies of scale to produce low-cost cameras. Some of the niche markets (like technical cameras) are so small, that there isn't any room for a new entry.

On another note, a company brought back Argus. I doubt they are made in the US.
 
chris00nj said:
Some of the niche markets (like technical cameras) are so small, that there isn't any room for a new entry.
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While I agree with most of what you're saying I think this is a bit of an overstatement. If you ask the current players in a niche like technical cameras they will no doubt tell you that there isn't any room for a new entry. But of course there is if you manage to take market share away from other players. A small market also means that the number of people you have convince of your product is considerably smaller. If you manage to get 10 prospective ALPA or Arca buyers to buy your products instead, you've already generated an income of at least $100'000 (how much of that is actual profit will, of course, depend on manufacturing costs and overhead).
 
An American company buying the name of a product to have it produced in Asia, and be at a woeful marketing disadvantage compared to the giants of the industry? Sounds like good business sense to leave that to someone else.

Besides, we still have these guys.

http://www.vivitar.com/
 
Digital Rapid Rollex

Digital Rapid Rollex

wlewisiii said:
i can vouch that one of them & it's 127/4.7 Ektar is still going strong. i've also rebuilt a nearly destroyed Crown from 1962 into a working field camera.

if one were to be built with the same simplicity and strength, i'd think there would be a small niche for a Graflex rebirth. That said, it would need to be a second business for someone who could do it for love and for the tax write off.

Perhaps a recreation of the Century Graphic with roll holders and a digital back that looks and acts something like the cut sheet holder of old but with a memory card rather than a 2x3 sheet? Real red leather bellows & a bit more movements up front, say like the Super Speed's? That might find a few customers but it would probably not be economically viable.
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Right.

It's the 6x9 slide in digital back I would like to see. I've a Century to fit it.

yours
FPJ
 
I'll take the Ansco Automatic Reflex thanks.

And from a design perspective, how about a recreation of the Raymond Loewy designed Anscomatic?
 
There are tons of Speed Graphic and Crown Graphic (lacks FP shutter) cameras out there to be had for a pittance, most of them in operable condition. I'm not sure even the Chinese could make a replica of equal quality that would cost as little.
 
Look on eBay for the interesting "Gaoersi" brand. Of course it is Chinese. These replace the bellows with a cast aluminum, rigid housing like a Fuji 617. Limited movements. A viewfinder and handles, like a press camera, ground-glass peeping not encouraged. Costs more than a used Graflex, but might be cool for those shooting people press-style with 4x5 (or 8x10).
 
Frank Version Two said:
An ACME shutter is inexpensively made from bent metal parts, like a cheap alarm clock, but it works reliably for years without service. A German Compur is beautifully made from milled parts but requires regular maintenance.
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I concur, I remember thinking that it's odd that I've seen more Japanese/German shutters freeze, gunked up or broken than those in old, dirty, cheap Kodak folders.

Also reminds me of the big Wollensak shutter on my 8x10 B&J. It is dirty as heck, but it works and have single-action (trigger cocks the shutter and release it) to boot. The same can be said on my Seneca 5x7 lens/shutter combination.

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I think that's one of the most handsome TLR around.
 
Revive a noble brand? I don't think that would be the goal in itself.

Gowland does it's own thing today, though not a camera for the Luigi case set, I'm afraid.

Oddly enough, Apple (heirs of Edsel design) could be a company to push into cameras - and integrate them to new/better purposes. It's just chips and tin. It fits into their market well.

- Charlie
 
It would be pointless to attempt to revive Graflex; there are enough good originals left to satisfy the market for that type of camera. They built them too well, and 60-year old examples work as good as new. Of course the market moved away from them- photojournalists had gone to 35mm (Nikon F) and 120 (Rollei) by the 1960s. The Hasselblad and Mamiya RB67 killed the Graflex SLRs by, well, just working better and being more flexible. The Graphic View was supplanted by any number of European and Japanese monorail cameras. Their 35mm and twin-lens cameras were just cheap, and the XL failed in the marketplace. What's left? Graflex was the best of its time, much as the American Locomotive Co., where my grandfather worked, made the best steam engines. AlCo's long gone, too. I say use your Graflex cameras, take care of them, and they'll outlive you.
 
The greatest American camera maker ever nowadays makes it money off of "licensing its digital technology" instead of film. Eg. the sensor in the Leica M9!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110326/ap_on_hi_te/us_kodak_patent_dispute

As for Singer sewing machines and the handing over of the American camera industry to the Japanese in order to help them rebuild after WW2 here is a nicely brassed early post war Consew (Made in Japan) copy of an industrial Singer. It is still running perfect to this very day! They gave away the sewing machine industry too! :D

PS How many of you own McIntosh hi fi equipment? haha

ConsewModel18Brass.jpg
 
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In response to Roger's OP


The Graflex camera – history

The iconic Speed Graphic is associated with an era of press photography through the 1930s to 60s. ..While many other large format cameras were in use at this time, it is the images of early Graflex, Century Graphic, Pacemaker Speed Graphic, Combat Graphic and Super Speed Graphic which captured public imagination. Arguably, the most famous photograph ever made in the 20th Century with a Graflex is the late Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal's World War II image of United States Marines raising the Stars and Stripes flag on Mount Suribachi in 1945 on the island of Iwo Jima. It won a Pulitzer Prize for its author and inspired a national war-bond poster, a postage stamp and a bronze statue in Washington D.C.

A partnership between William F. Folmer and William E. Schwing made in 1887, was responsible for the long line of cameras which became an American photographic institution. Incorporated in 1890 as the Folmer & Schwing Manufacturing Co., the firm began making cameras in 1897. In 1905 the company was bought by George Eastman of Rochester and by 1917 was a division of Eastman Kodak. The company underwent more name changes before becoming Graflex Inc., in 1945. From 1956 until 1968 Graflex was owned by General Precision Equipment Corp and afterwards by the Singer Corporation.
The flood of small format Japanese cameras imported into the U.S.A. in the 1950s and 1960s gradually eroded the company's customer base and by 1973 Graflex had ceased large format press and field camera production. The last American produced 4" X 5" camera carried the name Super Speed Graphic. It was built with an all metal body and fitted with a coupled rangefinder, Graflex shutter, revolving universal back, double extension bellows and all directional movements on the front standard.

But the Speed Graphic story did not end then. In 1982, all the dies, designs and patents for the camera were purchased by the Sakai Special Camera Mfg Co Ltd of Osaka, Japan, makers of the Toyo range of field and studio cameras. The company put the camera back into production as the Toyo Super Graphic and fitted it with a National made Toyo Graphic Autolight 56E with an extra long handle. The Camera was imported to the UK by photographic distributors George Elliot & Son.

URL: http://graflex.ajaxnetphoto.com/
 
I suppose you could wonder about Russian cars in the same vein....the Italians gave it a try -probably more for the political reasons of the time and so did Chevrolet -eek... In the end, nobody wants to buy them.
 
I wasn't talking about bringing back any existing camera, but rather about makkng a great new camera under an old name, just as Alpa did with the 12. I completely agree that there is no point in reviving anything Graflex made in the past, but I like the idea of making a great NEW American camera -- a design no-one has seen before, just as Alpa did -- under the old name, as a celebration of top-flight American engineering.

Cheers,

R.
 
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