Flexaret is a brand of

camera A camera is an instrument used to capture and store images and videos, either digitally via an electronic image sensor, or chemically via a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. As a pivotal technology in the fields of photograp ...

s manufactured from 1939 to 1970 in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

by the company Meopta. All models of Flexaret are

twin-lens reflex camera A twin-lens reflex camera (TLR) is a type of camera with two objective Photographic lens, lenses of the same focal length. One of the lenses is the photographic objective or "taking lens" (the lens that takes the picture), while the other is use ...

s with

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

body, taking square "6×6" format photographs on a 120

roll film Roll film or rollfilm is any type of spool-wound photographic film protected from white light exposure by a paper backing. The term originated in contrast to sheet film. Confusingly, roll film was originally often referred to as "cartridge" film ...

. Some models were also capable of using 35 mm film with the help of a special adapter.

History

In 1939, the company Optikotechna bought a factory producing photographic equipment in

Přerov Přerov (; ) is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 41,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Bečva River. In the past it was a major crossroad in the heart of Moravia in the Czech Republic. The historic city centre is we ...

. Optikotechna initially developed and improved older models (known as Autoflex and Flexette). The development of a new camera called Flexaret started in the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

years in the Meopta company, founded in 1946. The camera was intended rather for amateur photography; the handling was easy and technical parameters were simple. The Flexaret rapidly became popular in Czechoslovak households and its popularity lasted until the 1960s. However, the strategy of the

Council for Mutual Economic Assistance The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, often abbreviated as Comecon ( ) or CMEA, was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with a number of ...

among communist states demanded subordination of national interests to the central planning process dictated by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The tradition and competition were suppressed by political interests. The last cameras were produced after the 1968 Soviet invasion and in 1970 when the production was cancelled due to lack of parts from

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, after which the brand was replaced by the inferior Soviet ''Lubitel'' camera line. The Czech photographer Jan Saudek called Flexaret ''"our'' zech!-- Or Czechoslovak? --> ''national pride"''.

References

Literature

* Einhorn, Erich: ''Fotografujeme zrcadlovkou Flexaret'', Prague: SNTL, 1960 * Einhorn, Erich: ''Flexaret v praxi: Příručka o jeho obsluze a příslušenství i o možnostech jeho využití v jednotlivých oborech fotografické práce'', Prague: SNTL, 1968

External links

Flexaret - Fotografovani.cz

České fotoaparáty - Vratislav Noha collection
{{camera-stub 120 film cameras Twin-lens reflex cameras