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Au Bon Marché L'Instantané N° 1 |
 Version française |
Manufactured or assembled in France from (Before) 1903 to (After) 1903.
Index of rarity in France: Rare (among non-specialized garage sales)
Inventory number: 1932
See the complete technical specifications
Chronology of cameras Au Bon Marche
Au Bon Marché is a large department store, which became a luxury store, founded in 1838 and located on the left bank of Paris. It still exists but has been called Le Bon Marché since 1989.
In the field of photography, Au Bon Marché was a distributor, meaning that the department store sold cameras under its own brand that were manufactured by third parties without changing their specifications, but by masking the references to the manufacturer and changing the name of the model, including that of the lens. The cameras sold by Le Bon Marché don't always have a name; they often have to make do with a type (such as a view camera, detective camera) followed by a number or their format.
This 9 x 12 cm magazine box camera is featured in the 1903 catalog with various variants: with or without focusing and the presence or absence of a spirit level.
The mechanism proves that it is a Pipon manufacture, a fact confirmed upon examining the buttons and accessories.
The features are very typical for this kind of camera: a selector for Time (B) and Instantaneous, adjustable speeds (from 1 to 6) by varying the tension of a spring, an iris diaphragm graduated from 16 to 44, and optional focusing from 3 meters to infinity. The viewfinders are of a clear type, with the front lens engraved with a reticle.
The lens, an Achromatique Extra-Rapid, is arguably the weak point of this camera. The plate-changing mechanism is simple and efficient. When a slide is pushed, one finger releases the exposed plate while another holds the next plate. Upon returning the slide to its resting position, the finger retains the plate in the focal plane. The rest of the equipment includes a handle and two Congress-threaded tripod sockets.
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