Ferrania Rondine BF

Photos by PLB text by Sylvain Halgand. From the collection of PLB. Last update 2024-03-14 par Sylvain Halgand.

Manufactured or assembled in Italy from 1948 to 1957.
Index of rarity in France: Infrequent (among non-specialized garage sales)
Inventory number: 4392

See the complete technical specifications

Chronology of cameras Ferrania

The Rondine (which means "swallow" in Italian) is a small metal (aluminum) box camera using 127 film. It was the second box camera produced by the Ferrania brand, with the previous one, the Zeta (1945), using 120 film.
The Rondine was a real popular success during Italy's economic resurgence. Its variety of colors attracted young people on Vespas and older individuals driving Fiat 1400s

It is adorned with faux leather.
It features two viewfinders: a folding one above the camera body and a second one, erect, inserted above the lens. The latter is reminiscent of some Lumière box cameras. The viewfinder remains quite approximate regardless of which one is used.
The shutter is single speed (1/75) plus a bulb mode. The lens is a simple meniscus 8.8/7.5 cm named Linear.

The Rondine was produced in three models:

	Years

Rondine A	1948	Fixfocus
Rondine B	1948	Focusing
Rondine BF	1948	Focusing and Sync

A simplified model of the Rondine B, called the Colibri, without a folding viewfinder, was announced by Ferrania in 1949, but it never came to fruition.__________

THis is the blue variant of the Rondine BF.

__________

The company that would later become Ferrania had been manufacturing dynamite since 1882. During World War I, it became known as SIPE (Société Italienne Produits Explosifs) and supplied cannon powder to the Tsar of Russia. However, following the October Revolution, it began producing celluloid using its enormous stock of raw materials. Around 1917, it transformed into FILM, with Pathé Frères holding half of the company's shares for a period, and began manufacturing positive film for the cinema industry.

In 1932, FILM acquired Cappelli, a company specialized in glass plates. The company Film Cappelli Ferrania then produced films and photographic papers. In 1936, they initiated the production of cameras, and in 1938, the name was shortened to Ferrania. In 1964, 3M Minnesota became a shareholder, and the company was renamed Ferrania-3M.

In 1947, Ferrania introduced the first European color film, Ferraniacolor, and in 1981, they developed the most sensitive reversal film of the time (640 ASA), surpassing Kodak's Ektachrome High Speed.

(1) Collaboration with the founder of ICAF.

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