Fotex
Honestly I have to admit that I don´t actually know anything about this camera. I have seen only one picture of it in addition to the one in my collection.
Ioannis´s Camera Collection (temporarily down)
This doesn't mean that "There is something rotten in the state of Denmark". Certainly it is a camera. Lens is made of glass and the notes around it says: F11-47,5 MM. Shutter seems to have two speeds, one for cloudy weather and another for sunshine. The shutter himself is a simple safety pin construction.
Fotex 4x4cm is one of the few cameras made in Denmark. It takes 12 pictures (format 4 x 4cm) on 127 film. Shutter speeds are B, 1/40sec. Only 433 cameras were manufactured. Production was ceased in 1953. Original price was 24 Danish Crowns.
On the front of the camera you can see the text, "Patent applied for FOTEX Patent angemeldet" and "Made in Denmark". The glossy parts are nickel-coated, not chromium. It is made from heavy plate (in relation to its size) . What size of film it would eat is a mystery to me. Perhaps 127 rolfilm? I haven´t tried to feed it.
In spite of all it is beautiful and decorative. Cute, I should say. Fotex camera is undoubtedly quite rare. It has come to my mind: is that Fotex really intended for taking pictures and what are those patents which are pending? Perhaps the shutter? It is not alike those you´l find in the box-cameras. I wonder might this Fotex be the only camera ever made in Denmark?...some day, somewhere I have seen a text on a lens "Ernitec of Denmark" Danes are capable doing anything they will. My first decent Hi-Fi gear was Bang & Olufsen and in anno 1202 they made a military expedition to Finland. No bad feelings. I don´t remember anything :-) |
I got this information straight from Denmark and it means that this Fotex Camera is absolutely the rarest camera in my collection. Many thanks to Torben, Børge and Flemming and not least to the Dansk Fotohistorisk Selskab.
This isn't the only camera made in Denmark. A bakelite camera named Fotax Mini (Is the name a coincidence?) that used a special 35mm film was manufactured there in 1948. It had a simple F8/35mm lens for a 25x25mm negatives.
As far as I know, production was later moved to Sweden.
A camera named Fotex was also made in Finland by Sarvis Co. Unfortunately it was more or less a copy of a French bakelite camera Photax and you could guess what it resulted.
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The Elizabethan play The Tragedy of Hamlet Prince of Denmark is one of William Shakespeare's most popular works. One of the possible reasons for the popularity of this drama is the way Shakespeare uses the character Hamlet to exemplify the complex workings of the human mind.
Romantic,comedic,fantastic,satirical and naturally dreamlike, A Midsummer Night´s Dream is more familiar to me. I had an honor to work with Madame Pirkko Virmavirta who directed this play in Harjavalta, years ago. During the prehearsals of this dramatic work I assured myself that one of the most characteristic method of good representation is contrast. Theseus and Hippolyta are representing order and stability, Oberon's love potion represents the power and instability of love, and in many levels you can find the relationships between fantasy and reality, juxtaposed opposites, such as beautiful and ugly, clumsy and graceful, "O what fools these mortals be".
Epilogue: A couple of student actors then, belongs now in the forefront of Finnish "film stars" the brilliant Antti Virmavirta and Petri Lairikko. |
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Harmony
Fotex needs a company and her choice was a Japanese Harmony camera. Some resemblance, isn't it?
Harmony is a very basic metal body camera. The added features compared to Fotex are a possibility to adjust apertures for Sunny or Hazy weather and focusing between 1m (3ft) and infinity. Two shutter times, a constant "click" and a stepless "B" (the time depend on how long you are willing to press the release tab)
Another resemblance is the rarity. Harmony is not very common in Europe and somehow I feel, that it covers the whole world. Certainly the manufacturing figures for the Harmony were much larger but like so many old and cheap cameras, most of them have finished their earthly ramble. |
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Click to enlarge