Ad for the Meteor camera – a $15 wonder according to its maker, Universal Camera Corporation
Toronto. This May, 1947 ad from Popular Mechanics touted the Meteor – a cheap 620 camera designed like a 35mm camera – as ideal for “photo-eager folk who want to start on the streamlined path to a great photo-future”.
The maker goes to great lengths to list the ‘professional features’ of this camera – and its low price! Aside from Kodak’s high end models, US camera makers mostly went for the low hanging fruit – and a good bottom line over design or quality.
The Meteor hung around briefly but McKeown’s 11th (2001-2) shows a clean camera was worth 5 to 15 dollars to collectors before the digital era trashed prices on most cameras. We owe a big thanks to my good friend George Dunbar for sourcing and sharing this post war bit of photo history.
