“We remember the images, but who remembers the cameras that shot them?”

By John Wade

THINK OF WAR photography and thoughts turn to the images produced by the likes of Matthew Brady, who battled the difficulties of early photographic processes to produce a visual record of the U.S. Civil War; Robert Capa, whose work spanned five conflicts, most notably the Second World War; and Don McCullin’s work in Vietnam. We remember the images, but who remembers the cameras that shot them?

When the Crimean War broke out in 1853, photography was in its infancy. Photographers like Roger Fenton and others didn’t just take their cameras to war – they took their darkrooms as well. This was the era of wet plate photography in which photographers were forced to make their own photographic plates on glass, in the dark, before shooting, then use them still wet in the camera before developing them on the spot.

World War One, from 1914 to 1918, was the first to be seriously documented photographically. Professional photographers used large format plate cameras such as the Goerz Anschütz and the Minimum Palmos, even though those cameras originated in Germany. Soldiers who fancied themselves amateur photographer were forbidden to take cameras into battle zones; many disobeyed, taking advantage of the growing use of roll film that was taking over from rigid glass plates.

By the Second World War, photography was a well-established art form. Unfortunately for the Allies, most of the best cameras were made in Germany. Faced with a severe shortage of photographic equipment and forbidden to buy cameras from the enemy, the British Army Film and Photographic Unit put out an appeal for civilians to donate cameras bought before the war. Ironically, the cameras mostly sought were German.

A Cold War that began as Second World War hostilities ceased, and born out of a mutual distrust between America and the Soviet Union, was epitomized photographically by cameras for espionage.

The Minox subminiature was an obvious contender with its small size making it ideal for clandestine work and document photography. Equally popular were cameras that could be used hidden in clothing and bags, or disguised as everyday objects like lighters, cigarette packets and watches.

The Korean War  that began in 1950 and lasted until 1953 coincided with the rise to predominance of the Japanese camera industry. As war correspondents flocked to the Far East to cover the Korean conflict, stop-overs in Japan introduced them to Japanese Canon and Nikon lenses that fitted their German Leicas and Contaxes to give as good as, and sometimes better, results. When the war ended, Japanese 35mm cameras began to flood the U.S. market. So began the dominance of Japan over the rest of the photographic world.

The cameras that went to war

Vest Pocket Kodak

Launched in 1912, this was the first camera to use 127-size film, which contributed to its small dimensions. When the First World War broke out, Kodak re-marketed it as “the soldier’s camera.” The VPK, as it was popularly known, was a small folding model that amateur photographer soldiers kept in their tunic pockets and often used illicitly to snap shots in places where professional war photographers couldn’t easily reach.

Speed Graphic

This was a camera that really stood the test of time. Introduced in 1912, primarily as an American press camera, it went into regular service in the First World War. Later, the Speed Graphic continued to be a popular workhorse during the Second World War for British press and U.S. Army Signal Corps photographers. It was still going strong during the early years of the Korean War. For its time, it was a relatively small, yet heavy, plate camera that required glass plates to be changed between exposures.

Hythe Machine Gun Camera

This peculiar British-made camera’s design was heavily influenced by the Lewis machine gun. It was used to train First World War pilots in air-to-air combat, where it was impractical to use live ammunition. In 1915, English manufacturer Thornton Pickard engineered the weapon-shaped camera with the lens in the barrel so that every time the trigger was pulled, a frame was captured on a special roll of film. The images, once developed, indicated how accurate the airman had been a mock dogfight.

Graflex 1a

This American camera was unusual among those from the First World War-era in that it was a single lens reflex design. Such a style of camera incorporated a mirror behind the lens to reflect its image onto a ground-glass viewing screen under a hood on top of the body. As the shutter release was pressed, the mirror flipped up and allowed light from the lens to then reach the film at the back of the camera. In this way the photographer could preview exactly what would appear on film before the picture was taken, as opposed to the use of the separate viewfinder found on other cameras of the time whose view never showed exactly the same scene as that taken in by the lens. It was, however, big and heavy, and what it gained from the convenience of reflex viewing, it lost in its size, weight and consequential difficulty of use.

The F24

During the Second World War, F24 cameras like this were used for aerial reconnaissance. The camera comprised a body with a built-in shutter and a range of lenses in a cone on the front. It shot pictures five by five inches on five-inch-wide rolls of film that had a capacity for up to 250 exposures. In 1942, the camera was further developed as the F52, whose image format was a massive 8½ by seven inches, using film magazines that could shoot up to 500 exposures.

Super Ikonta 530/16 & 532/16

These two cameras, subtle variations on the Super Ikonta Model B made by Zeiss Ikon, were reputed to be the best and handiest in action, and were used prolifically during the D-Day landings. Both were folding models, in which a bed dropped down from a flat box-like body, with lenses which self-erected on bellows. Each took 120-size film to produce 2¼-inch square negatives. Various lenses were available and coupled rangefinders were built in.

Williamson G45

As well as their use for reconnaissance, specialized cameras were also placed in aircraft to record the accuracy of a pilot’s shooting during air-to-air combat. One of the best known was the G45. It used 16mm cine film, driven through the camera by an electric motor, powered from the aircraft and synchronized to start filming as the aeroplane’s guns were fired. From 1939 the G45 was fitted to Spitfires and Hurricanes, then to other aircraft as the war progressed.

Kodak Medalist

Built by Kodak in America and introduced in 1941, the Medalist was big, heavy, remarkably rugged and appeared to be indestructible. If ever a camera looked like it should be a military model, this was it. The Medalist shot eight big images to a roll of 620 size film. Used a lot for colour photography, it ensured better quality than images from a 35mm camera and was easier to use than the Speed Graphic, which it rapidly replaced.

F-21

The F-21 was a Cold War-era model where its small size made it ideal for clandestine photography. Despite measuring a mere 2½ x 2 x 2¾ inches, it featured the technical spec of much larger cameras. More importantly, it incorporated a clockwork motor drive to advance the film automatically between exposures, which made it easier to use hidden in some other object. F-21 cameras were often disguised in clothing, where the lens shot pictures through fake buttons.

Nikon S

The first Nikon, in 1948, was the Nikon I which, by the time of the Korean War, had progressed to become the Nikon S, launched in 1951 and destined to become the company’s most successful camera up until that time. It was a 35mm coupled rangefinder camera with interchangeable lenses on a bayonet mount. Following the Korean war, this was the first Nikon to be officially imported into America.

John Wade is a British writer and photographer who has written and illustrated numerous articles on camera history for photographic and other magazines in the UK, America and Australia. He has also written, edited and contributed to more than 30 books on photographic history, photographic techniques and social history. His latest book is Cameras At War, published by Pen and Sword Books. (www.pen-and-sword.co.uk). Find out more by visiting the author’s website at www.johnwade.org