This section is for the cameras that use a disc to rotate the negative and includes Brinkert, Ferro, Magna Wristamatic, Petal, Photoret and Steineck cameras but not the Disc format cameras that Kodak introduced in the 1980s (for more information see http://www.subclub.org/shop/disc.htm).

Kodak introduced a disc camera with 15 exposures and a negative almost the same size as Minox but 8x10 and not 8x11. The Minox 8x11 cartridge is difficult to manufacture and very expensive. It is hard to spool and the strip film format is difficult to process and print in an automated fashion. On the other hand the Kodak disc was extremely easy to manufacture, easy to assemble (done robotically), was built with the idea of magnetically encoding the disc and was very easy to process and print in an automated mode. The Minox cassette loses on all counts. Kodak and Fuji possibly sold more disc films than a hundred times the total sales of Minox film. The cameras are large, compared to a Minox, and aimed at a mass market who did not like the results from the grainy tiny negatives. Minox remained a luxury accessory in the same way that a Mont Blanc pen or a Rolex is.

The Brinkert cameras where made possible when the stock of lenses for the Goldhammer Goldeck where sold off in 1979. The inventor Franz Brinkert also built these into brooches and pendants.

The Ferro GT range are precision made ring cameras from the Italian designer Gian Paulo Ferro. Only 107 have been reported to have been made ibetween1981 and 1984.

The Magna was the efforts of one inventor, Mr. Bernard Seckendorf, to create an inexpensive "spy camera".

The Petal, originally made by St. Peter Optical Company, is an ingenious little camera which where well built mechanically but lacked a quality lens.

The Photoret dates from 1894. It was designed by William K.L. Dickson and Anglo-Scottish inventor whilst assistant to Thomas Edison at Menlo Park, New Jersey. It has a mediocre meniscus lens, but a unique rotator shutter.

The final camera in this group, the precision made Steineck ABC, comes from the genius of Dr. Rudolph Steineck, who was later associated with the Tessina.

General

books, links, quotes

The Collection

The collection consists miscellaneous format cameras using a disc from

• Brinkert
• Ferro GF-81/GF-82/GF-84
• Magna Wristamatic
• Petal
• Photoret
• Steineck ABC

The list contains details of the cameras and accessories, including cases, manuals, boxes and an estimate of the current price for the item, and further information. There are also photographs with views top, bottom, front, back of each item. Additional image pops up in a separate window, which is then reused when the next link is selected.

Manuals

Although some subminiature cameras are not too difficult to find they are often without manuals. Here are links to manuals posted on other sites as well as those available here. Some are photocopies, but the majority are high resolution full colour scans.

• Brinkert
• Ferro GF-81/GF-82
• Magna Wristamatic
• Petal
• Photoret
• Steineck ABC