# Can anyone identify this camera?



## Esther_ (Nov 17, 2016)

Hi! A couple of days ago we found this old camera that used to belong to my grandfather. Now I've searched the internet trying to find out which camera this is, but couldn't find anything. It has a Kodak Anastigmat Ektar lens and says something like "Ontarloc" on top of it, but my Google searches gave no results. So I'm hoping you guys can help me out here! Does anyone know what camera this is? Thanks in advance!



















Sorry for the crappy photos, I'm no photographer by any means


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## Dave442 (Nov 17, 2016)

Looks like a fairly robust build of the camera and the lens is a Kodak from the '30s (the early Kodak 35 cameras from this period were made in Germany and this is their "pro" lens). The size of the camera makes it look like it could be larger than 35mm film size, maybe something like 120 size. Although the 5cm lens suggests 35mm. 

I expect the film loads from the bottom like on some old Lieca cameras from that period.  A sturdy construction, seems like something made for use during battle and that could place it to mid to late 30's. (I always open old cameras in a dark room just in case they still have film loaded in them - usually turning the film advance and rewind knobs will give you a good idea if there is any film inside). 

The chart on the back is the depth of field table - so for each focus distance and f-stop setting you are given the range of distance that will appear in focus. So 5 meters at f/4 would have subjects appearing to be in good focus from 3.58 meters to 8.30 meters. This table would also seem like something added to a military type camera. 

The knobs also seem very large, like the camera was designed to be used by someone wearing gloves.


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## compur (Nov 17, 2016)

Does it accept 35mm or 127 film?

If 127 it may be a Ranca or another model by Kodak AG/Nagel.


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## john.margetts (Nov 17, 2016)

It has two knobs on top so is 35 mm. A roll film camera, regardless of which format, would only have one knob as there is no need to rewind the film.

It was normal in the 1930s to have a depth of field chart on cameras. This signifies nothing apart from approximate age.


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## john.margetts (Nov 17, 2016)

I have had a look in my 35mm books and cannot see this camera. The nearest is a Kodak 35, which this might be a variant of. The use of an Ektar lens suggests Kodak, for sure. 

The lens focal length is given in cm rather than mm which dates it to pre-1950(ish). Also the lens serial number is just digits and no letters - in the early 1940s Kodak started adding date letters to serial numbers, so this seems to be a 1930s camera.

It is possible that this was a special designed for a particular purpose and so will be impossible to identify.


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## compur (Nov 17, 2016)

john.margetts said:


> It has two knobs on top so is 35 mm. A roll film camera, regardless of which format, would only have one knob as there is no need to rewind the film.



The Ranca is a 127 camera and it has 2 "knobs":






In this case what appears to be a rewind knob serves another purpose.


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## 480sparky (Nov 17, 2016)

I recognize it.

It's Brian.


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## kap55 (Nov 17, 2016)

I think this may be it:

http://www.collection-appareils.fr/x/html/appareil-1867-Cornu_Ontobloc.html

or in English:

http://www.collection-appareils.fr/x/html/page_standard_eng.php?id_appareil=1867


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## john.margetts (Nov 17, 2016)

compur said:


> john.margetts said:
> 
> 
> > It has two knobs on top so is 35 mm. A roll film camera, regardless of which format, would only have one knob as there is no need to rewind the film.
> ...


both the knobs in the Op's camera are clearly for winding, not for adjusting or releasing.


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## Piccell (Nov 17, 2016)

It's an old Kodak, it's just had the Kodak nameplate removed from the lens, see the 2 screw holes?


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## Dave442 (Nov 17, 2016)

Thanks for the info John and Kap. So a French camera made by Cornu from around 1946 with the Ontobloc body basically the same as their earlier Reyna camera. It looks like lenses may have come in from Germany after the war and that could be the source of that Kodak lens in place of the Boyer.


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## compur (Nov 17, 2016)

It's a Kodak lens but the camera is by Cornu of France. Sacré bleu!


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## Piccell (Nov 17, 2016)

If you had the Boyer lens it would be worth around $35.00-$50.00 with the lens it has, a lot less.
Incidentally Cornu (aspersum) is also a name of a land snail, the word itself is french for horn, horned, or horny.
ie Cornucopia

The logo is 2 crossed horns that look suspiciously like legs.


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## Dany (Dec 6, 2016)

I agree . This is a French camera "Ontobloc" made by Cornu released at the end of WW2 and fitted with a Kodak lens.
The link given by Kap 55 goes to a page that explains the existence of such Kodak lens blocks originated from  Kodak in occupied Germany on some Ontoblocs.
Ontobloc cameras were the enhanced versions of the earlier Reyna and Reyna Cross cameras.
The main change from the Reyna was to adopt a rigid lens  forming a bloc (giving the name Ontobloc") . The Reyna cameras being fitted with lenses  mounted on a retractable tube and that needed to be pulled out to be operational.
The Cornu logo is in fact made from the image of two interlaced laboratory  glass retorts (In French, a retort is a "cornue" with a final "e" that is not on the manufacturer name)


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