PHOTAX BOYER
![Picture](/uploads/1/0/2/0/10205587/6687505.jpg?189)
1937-1960
The Photax (often classified as Photax I) was a viewfinder camera made of Bakelite. It took 6×9cm exposures on roll film. The first version was introduced in 1937 by M.I.O.M., a maker of isolation material and cast plastic parts. It was the Photax, also sold as Camera 77 or Loisirs. Six different models were introduced between 1937 and 1960. Since the Photax II model, the cameras were also available as a blindé variant. "Blindé" stood for a Bakelite lens cover which protected the lens and shutter release.
Specifications:
(**) MIOM (Manufacture d'Isolants et d'Objets Moulés) was a plastics company located in Vitry-sur-Seine, France, way back in the day. Apparently a growing opportunity for paid holidays for the working class in France around 1937 caused MIOM to diversify and begin making cameras in addition to electrical insulators and other objets moulés. One of their first was the the curvaceous, organic Photax Blindé ('armored Photax') which became their flagship camera.
Links: Matt's Classic Cameras
The Photax (often classified as Photax I) was a viewfinder camera made of Bakelite. It took 6×9cm exposures on roll film. The first version was introduced in 1937 by M.I.O.M., a maker of isolation material and cast plastic parts. It was the Photax, also sold as Camera 77 or Loisirs. Six different models were introduced between 1937 and 1960. Since the Photax II model, the cameras were also available as a blindé variant. "Blindé" stood for a Bakelite lens cover which protected the lens and shutter release.
Specifications:
- Year of launch: 1937
- Type: viewfinder camera
- Film: Type 620 film rolls (except Photax I: type 120)
- Manufacturer: M.I.O.M (**)
- Viewfinder: Galilei type optical finder (except model VI: frame finder)
- Exposure format: 6×9, except model VI with format 6×6, and models I and V, both with both formats
- Lens: Boyer Serie VII meniscus lens
- Shutter: Guillotine shutter with two speeds
(**) MIOM (Manufacture d'Isolants et d'Objets Moulés) was a plastics company located in Vitry-sur-Seine, France, way back in the day. Apparently a growing opportunity for paid holidays for the working class in France around 1937 caused MIOM to diversify and begin making cameras in addition to electrical insulators and other objets moulés. One of their first was the the curvaceous, organic Photax Blindé ('armored Photax') which became their flagship camera.
Links: Matt's Classic Cameras