Camera of the
month

Zeiss Ikon Box-Tengor (1927)
The Zeiss Ikon Box-Tengor from 1927 is probably the first camera of the merger of Ernemann, ICA, Contessa-Nettel and Goerz, which was managed by Carl-Zeiss. The Goerz company developed the Box Tengor in 1924, and with the merger the camera was renamed Zeiss Ikon Box Tengor.
In the 1920s it was common to make box cameras from cardboard for the housing. The Box Tengor has a metal housing and is more valuable than its competitors. With a recording format of 6x9cm, our camera is the model 756. It is equipped with a lens, Goerz Frontar 1:11/11cm, with insertion apertures for 1:11, 1:16 and 1:22. The exposure time was fixed at 1/25sec or B. The camera has two viewfinders, one above the other, with which the image can be recorded horizontally or vertically.

Cnopm Sport (1936)
The Cnopm Sport is a camera from Soviet production. This prototype was developed by A. O. Gelgar from 1934 to 1935. Gelgar from 1934 to 1935. 340 prototypes of the Cnopm Sport were produced. Series production ran under the name Gelveta and it is unclear whether it or the Ihagee Kine Exakta is the first 35 mm SLR camera. The camera was manufactured by Gosudarstvennyi Optiko-Mekhanicheskii Zavod (GOMZ for short) in Leningrad in a run of 19,000 units until 1941.
The focal plane shutter was provided by a pair of metal plates and allowed exposure times from 1/25 to 1/500 second. The shutter release involved a rapidly rising, non-returning reflex mirror. Film was transported from cassette to cassette and so there was no need to rewind the film before removal. The original pair of cassettes would provide enough film for fifty shots. The camera has a vertical viewfinder at eye level to look at the focusing screen. The camera was designed to accept interchangeable bayonet lenses, but the only lens available was the Industar "И-10 1 : 3, 5 F = 5 cm" lens.

AGFA PARAMAT (1963-1968)
The AGFA Paramat is based on the Optima 500SN, a standard 35 mm format camera of the time. The AGFA Paramat deviates from this as a half-format camera with a recording medium of 24 mm x 18 mm and consequently used a 135 35 mm cartridge. Due to the film format, portrait format pictures were taken when the camera was held in the normal position, but if the camera was turned 90°, landscape format pictures were possible.

AGFA OPTIMA PARAT (1963-1968)
The Agfa Optima Parat was the top model in the series of cameras for this format. It is equipped with an excellent four-lens Solinar lens in the Compur 500 shutter. In contrast to the simpler Agfa Paramat, the completely metal-clad Optima Parat had a solid metal body.
As with all Agfa Optima cameras, the exposure is made by lightly pressing the shutter release button, waiting until the green lamp in the viewfinder lights up and pressing it down fully. The aperture and time are set automatically according to the light conditions.
Because of its design, this camera is also called the silverfish.