Depth of Focus

  There are certain places in the world known for the manufacture of photographic equipment. Wetzlar, Germany. Rochester, New York. Perhaps even Ann Arbor, MI. But Minneapolis, Minnesota?  Yet, during the 1940s and 50s, Minneapolis was home to the Clarus Camera Manufacturing Company. A firm which only ever made one camera, the Clarus MS-35.  History The 1930s was an era for the development of precision miniature cameras. Kodak's introduction of the daylight loading 135 film cartridge in 1934 and the popularity of German made Leica and Contax cameras prompted multiple American companies to introduce their own offerings and hopefully capitalize on a lucrative emerging market. Previously, I talked about the Perfex Fifty-Five , another camera that emerged as a result of this.  The story of Clarus began in 1939, when International Photographic Industries, Inc. of Chicago announced the model MS-35. The camera had been designed by Paul Mann, who was a primary financier of the company, and

  If you are a collector of cameras, or have seen a good number of vintage cameras, then the Kodak Bantam Special should be a camera whose looks, if not reputation, precede itself.  Praised for it's unique art-deco body styling, the Kodak Bantam Special was the highest end consumer camera that Eastman Kodak produced and sold in the USA at the time of its release. Imported German Retina cameras were also being sold, but the Bantam Special represented an American footstep into the high end miniature camera market, with a feature set that not even the German made Retinas could compete with.  History The Kodak Bantam series, and importantly the history of the 828 film format begins in 1935 and was aimed to correct some of the deficiencies of the 135 film format we are familiar with today.  Kodak launched the 135 film cartridge alongside their German made Retina folding cameras in 1934. The concept of using 35mm double perforated motion picture film for still photography was not new. Le