James's Camera Collection: Wollensak Model 43

Wollensak Model 43
Wollensak Model 43 movie camera
Format: 8mm
Transport: Spring-wind
Exposure: Manual
Approx. date of manufacture: 1957
Approx. original price: $99.50

This is a very nice camera from the late 1950s, with the three-lens turret and an adjustable aperture. You can't see it from this photo, but the film door on the other side swings open and the chamber is spot-frosted (the metal panel is machined to look like silvery fish-scales). A very nice touch. Wish I'd had this when I was a kid taking movies.

Also note the colored lines on the viewfinder—each colored line corresponded with a lens (which had the same color line band on the lens cone).

click for a larger versionWollensak also made a Model 42, which was the same thing but single-lens only.

Next year, Wollensak will add a photocell and release this as the Model 46 (turret) and Model 47 (single-lens).

They must have sold a million of these things. I see them all the time.

Related Pages

Roundup of Revere and Wollensak Movie Cameras
Revere CA-2 Movie Camera

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