Register of Cameras:
More than 30.000 basic models in nearly 80.000 variants!
Introduction and explanation to this register:
This is a systematical listing made from all available sour-ces. Every camera got it's own number, based on a scheme that includes and files up all types of cameras and equip-ment. It also allows an inverse search, but these functions are not available in this online version. As an example here is the register number for the Minolta XE 1:
MILT K 2970 a01
The first 4 letters are the abbreviation for the manufactu-rer, then there is the "K" for "camera" (e.g. movie cameras has an "F"), followed by a listing number for the basic mo-del in alphabetical order of it's name. The last part identi-fies variations, so every camera has at least "a01". With the Minolta XE 1 there comes also a "b01" to distinguish the black and the chrome version. Because of the inter-changeable lens system there is no listing of all the avai-lable lenses.
If there are cameras with fixed lens/shutter combinations in several versions, there can be a lot of variants from just one camera because every lens/shutter combination get a number of it's own (a01...a23). In addition there can be other variants like a single, double and triple extension bellows witch leads to a, b, c, followed by the listing of all the lens/shutter combinations, so the register number for the basic model can be extended with a01...a13, b01-b13, c01-c13. Youll find such a lot of variants especially with pre-war cameras.
Every data line then includes the register number, the model name, the lens, the shutter, the year of the first manufacturing, an abbreviation for the type of camera, size and kind of the film or plate format and annotations (these are in german language because this register was listed in germany originally).
There are some abbreviations in this register:
In the field "lens" often there is mentioned "WO" what means interchangeable lens ("WechselOptik")
In the field "shutter" often there is mentioned "Spezial" what means a shutter that was made especially for this camera, mostly basic constructions. "Schlitz" just means a focal plane shutter.
In the field for the film or plate size there are more abbreviations:
APS APS-film (Advanced Photo System)
Disc Disc-film
FP Filmpack - an old system with several
sheets of flat film in a case
IC Instamatic-Cassette, type 126
KB 35mm-film, different sizes of the negatives
KB-R 35mm-film in the special "Rapid"-cartridge
PF Sheet-film
PIC Pocket-Instamatic-Cassette, type 110
Pl (glass-) plates
RF Roll-film, different sizes and types
Spez. Specially made film types out of the usual range
sometimes there are the additional remarks
-Sb Instant picture (Sofortbild)
-St Stereo-pictures
Between these there is the column "camera type". You can definitly descripe every camera by naming the kind of it's housing in connection with the kind of it's finder. This is particularly important for the inverse search. In this re-gister it follows the schedule shown on the left.
The abbreviations for the kind of housing are:
Bo Box camera
Fg Solid body (Festgehäuse)
Kl Folding camera (Klappkamera)
Lb Baseboard camera (Laufbodenkamera)
Mg Magazine camera
Rk Field camera (Reisekamera)
Sk Case camera (Schiebekastenkamera)
Sp Spread camera (Spreizenkamera)
Tu Lens tube camera (Tubuskamera)
The abbreviations for the kind of finders are:
Br Waist level finder (Brilliantsucher)
Ms Screen focussing (Mattscheibe)
Ra Frame finder (Rahmensucher)
Rao Optical frame finder (optischer Rahmensucher)
Rf1 Single lens reflex (Reflexsucher, einäugig)
Rf2 Twin lens reflex (Reflexsucher, zweiäugig)
Su Optical finder/ Newtonfinder (Sucher, optisch)
So for example "Bo/Br" means a typical box-camera, "Fg/Su" a usual 35mm-camera, "Lb/BrRa" a baseboard-camera with waist-level- and framefinder.