jueves, 15 de noviembre de 2007

Robot I

Around 1930 Heinz Kilfitt, a trained watchmaker, designed a new 35 mm film compact camera using a 24x24 mm frame format (instead of the Leica 24x36 mm or cine 18x24 mm formats). The 24x24mm square frame provided many advantages including allowing for over 50 exposures per standard roll of Leica film instead of 36. Kodak and Agfa rejected the design and it was sold to Hans Berning who set up the Otto Berning firm.


Otto Berning got its first Robot patent in 1934. This omitted the spring motor drive as it was originally intended to come in two versions: Robot I, without motor, and Robot II with a spring motor. Its release was delayed and already the first camera "Robot I" included its hallmark spring motor. The first production cameras had a spring drive that could turn at a sensational 4 frames per second. The body of the Robot 1 is Stainless steel. Kilfitt designed a rotary shutter with speeds from 1 to 1/500th second. The camera used proprietary "Type K" cartridges, not the standard 35 mm cartridges—introduced in the same year by Kodak's Dr. August Nagel Kamerawerk for the Retina—available today. The camera has no rangefinder. Its does not need one: it was designed for use mostly with short focal length lenses (e.g. 40 mm).

With practice a photographer could take 4 or 5 pictures a second, in the Olympic Games from Berlin in 1936, Robot I did an excellent job of sequence photography.



Small optical viewfinder could be rotated 90 degrees

This knob with the word Germany is not usual.

Robot I with serial Nº 21532



Robot 1, with orange Robot filter

Robot manufactured only 30.000 units from 1934 until 1938. Its hard to find today a Robot I in good conditions.



Very special Robot I with Tewe viewfinder






Robot I without view Finder from an antique brochure.













Robot I N º 20097 with wiew finder and Tessar 1:2,8 Nº 2027905
Robot Guide from Focal Press, printed in 1949 in Great Britain, at the Sign of the Dolphin, by Hunt, Barnard & Co Ltd.:
The Robot is often viewed a degree of wonder. Whilist everybody agrees that is a good camera, it also a model that does not fit into the usual range of instruments.
Yes, it is precision built,it is fited with good lenses of well know reputation, it is a small, well made camera, but it has features to which a conventional photographer is not accustomed, which he cannot place and with which he has no experience. In consequence he just wonders.




Robot I N 20097 with wiew finder and Tessar 1:2,8 Nº 2027905

Price List from the Robot I:
Camera with Meyer - Primotar 1:3,5 f= 3cm. RM 175
Camera with Zeiss - Tessar 1:3,5 f= 3cm. RM 198
Camera with Zeiss - Tessar 1:2,8 f= 3cm. RM 220

Rare Robot I Nº 21097 with Carl Zeiss Tessar 1:3,5 f=3 cm Nº 1722001
Robot I 1936-1937





















Robot early leather case


Robot II, and Robot II Luftwaffe-Eigentum

Robot II Luftwaffe Eigentum Black, an outstanding Army Robot Camera.
During the world war II, Otto Berning produced his famous Robot Luftwaffe Eigentum ( Air force property), this was a special production of flight recognized cameras.
This is a beautiful F serial, 4th version of 1942, with Long-long advance knob (48 exposures) and two holes on top. The F serial comes from the german word " Flieger" or " Flyer", with the famous Sonnar 7,5 cm lens ,in aluminium body of 1941, a rare war time lens, the most popular lens was the Tele-Xenar of 7,5 cm, the Biotar 2,0, and the Xenon 1,9 lens. Only a few units of this versión was fited with the Carl Zeiss 7,5 cm Sonnar.
The camera was used in several German fighter planes like the Messerschmitt BF 109 and 110 and the Focke Wulf 190. In the last one the camera was mounted in a cradle in the right wing and was connected with the guns. The camera could also be used handheld by the crew.
This is a very little master piece of collection. Some research say that 20.000 units were made,many of them were lost in air crashes or ruined over time. It is very difficult to get one of those currently running, and in the future the price will be much higher than now.



A very unusual Carl Zeiss Sonnar 1:4 7,5 cm Luftwaffen Eigentum lens. Very hard to find is this War Time lens, made for the Robot II Luftwaffen Eigentum Camera. Most common are the Tele-Xenar and the Biotar lens.










The Robot II introduced in 1938, has all the improvements of Heinz Kilfitt.A 40mm f2.0 Biotar was fitted as the standard lens. The film could now be fed from a standard 35 mm cassette but still required a Robot cassette for take up and the camera was syncronized for flash.
Robot II early and late model with Biotar lens, see the detail of the knob. 80.ooo units of Robot II build were.
Late model



Robot II pre-series with the blue 90º viewfinder, a rare transitional camera between Robot I and the Robot II standard series.
Early model