David White Stereo Realist
[1947-1972]

Designed by Seton Rochwite, a young engineer at the David White Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (manufacturers of optical instruments). The camera was an instant success and sold over a quarter of a million units in its 25 year lifespan. The camera incorporated dual lenses and shutters for recording the image on slide film. The centre lens was used as a viewfinder. When the shutter was fired, two images were exposed simultaneously, slightly off center from one another. When mounted and placed in the viewer (shown left) the images produced a real life stereoscopic scene (similar to a Viewmaster).

The Model 1041 (c. 1958),shown above left, had f/3.5 lenses and the sister model, the ST-1042 had fast f/2.8 lenses.

Balda Super Baldina
[c. 1952]

The Baldina represents a very typical 35mm consumer rangefinder camera from the 1950’s. It was fairly compact and made from die-cast aluminum with stamped metal covers and had a reasonably good 50mm lens. A unique feature of the Baldina is its collapsible lens.

The Baldina is shown left with a collapsible flash accessory which was very popular prior to the introduction of the electronic flash. The unit used either a type AG-1, M2 or No.5 single use flashbulbs. The blue bulb shown here was a daylight bulb used for taking exposures indoors.