c1935 Russian Sport SLR minicam using 35mm film in a special cassette.
Toronto. Issue 22-1 features a selection of cameras from our 1996 spring fair as photographed by Bob Lansdale and assisted by Tiit Kodar. Among the offered goodies was this rare Russian camera, the USSR Sport from 1935.
The photo for this post is the smallish image in issue 22-1 ably enlarged by Topaz Photo AI, and enhanced by Focus Magic, and Affinity Photo.
The Sport was possibly the first minicam SLR design (a debate ensued with the Kine Exakta maker – it was marketed in 1936) The Sport takes 50 shots (24 mm x 36 mm) using a special cassette (cassettes were not yet standardized).
It has an optical finder for direct eye-level shots. You can see a large awkward box on top of the camera – it serves as a hood for the SLR viewing magnifier. The beast uses an Industar 10 lens with a top aperture of f/3.5 and a fixed 50mm focal length.
The camera uses a focal plane shutter rated at B, plus a range of 1/25 – 1/500 speeds.
The dealer who owned the camera had an asking price of $450 back about 30 years ago. By the way, see the location and dates for our confirmed events this year to the right under ‘PHSC EVENTS’. We can’t promise a USSR Sport camera will show up, but you will find lots of intriguing goodies to expand your collection!
