{"id":31295,"date":"2025-04-23T01:03:56","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T05:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/?p=31295"},"modified":"2025-04-21T23:37:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T03:37:04","slug":"on-your-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/on-your-mark\/","title":{"rendered":"on your mark,"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Marksman camera c1950<\/p><\/div>\n

Toronto<\/strong>. You may have wondered about so called Canadian cameras. They seem to cluster around two points: cheap and inexpensive cameras (mostly box cameras), and high end models (Leica cameras and lenses once from Midland).<\/p>\n

Some years ago, member John Linsky researched the Marksman line of (box) cameras sold mainly in the late 1940s and early 1950s. John’s efforts, have been updated and revised in a detailed article by members\u00a0David J. Kenny (DDS, PhD) and Louise Freyburger (MLS)<\/p>\n

A draft of their article (final version to be published in issue 50-4) begins, “Louise Freyburger and I were discussing ‘Canadian’\u00a0cameras when she reminded me of Linsky\u2019s article on the\u00a0Marksman, produced by Bernard Marks & Co., (BMCo),\u00a0Toronto. This small, steel-bodied box camera was the sort\u00a0of \u2018toy\u2019 camera given to children and adolescents for birthdays and Christmas. BMCo was primarily a manufacturer\u2019s\u00a0agent, also called a jobber or wholesaler, selling a variety of\u00a0products to department stores and independent retailers.<\/p>\n

“John Linsky\u2019s short description contains by far the most information on Marks\u2019 cameras in the literature. He reported\u00a0that the company was, ‘solely owned by Bernard Marks\u00a0who provided this information.’ Further, Marks designed\u00a0the camera himself, and all parts, including lens and shutter,\u00a0were made by an associated company. The cameras had\u00a0only \u2018Time\u2019 and \u2018Snap\u2019 settings, a fixed f16 aperture, and\u00a0used 620 roll film.<\/p>\n

“As limited as Linsky\u2019s first person description of Marks\u2019 enterprise is, it offers far more information than is currently captured by Internet search engines.\u00a0The only other written account of Marksman cameras was\u00a0taken from, and acknowledged, the Linsky article. We decided to extend Linsky\u2019s narrative by investigating this kernel of Canadian photographic history. Photography websites\u00a0and eBay offerings provided additional visual information,\u00a0and we used secondary sources, including a fellow Society\u00a0member, along with direct examination and disassembly of\u00a0the Marksman variants.” …<\/p>\n

This article in full, plus other articles will appear in issue 50-4. Members will receive notification of issue 50-4 in pdf format shortly. Not a member? Then join now (see MEMBERSHIP above and at right). If you have any membership questions email our membership secretary Lilianne at member@phsc.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cameras like this (and lots of other photo collectibles) often show up at\u00a0our events (see PHSC EVENTS at right). You can email our president Clint at fair@phsc.ca<\/a> if you have any questions. The next event is our May 4th auction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Toronto. You may have wondered about so called Canadian cameras. They seem to cluster around two points: cheap and inexpensive cameras (mostly box cameras), and high end models (Leica cameras and lenses once from Midland). Some years ago, member John … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1944],"tags":[2017,398,1584,14],"class_list":["post-31295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","tag-article","tag-camera","tag-canadian","tag-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31295"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31300,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31295\/revisions\/31300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/phsc.ca\/camera\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}