Robot Ii Camera Serial Numbers
- Made in Germany, probably in the 1940s based on low serial number (B83544). Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 1:19/40 Nr 2052420 lens is clear, unscratched and the camera works. Internal cannisters for film are intact. It has been in dry storage (at home) for about 25 years. The camera body is in good condition considering.
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Micklem.com- photo- robotHeinz Kilfitt, designer of the first zoom lens, sold his plans for an automatic film advance camera to Hans Berning. These plans for a camera that took 24x24mm photos on 35mm movie film had already been rejected by Agfa and Kodak. Hans founded a company called Otto Berning and Co., and patented Kilfitt's design in 1934, and released the camera, the Robot I, the same year (Source: ).During the Second World War, all the output of Otto Berning and Co. (roughly 20,000 Robot II's) went to the German armed services.
I think the only other camera manufacturer to supply the German military in the war years was Leitz. War-time Leicas are extremely valuable, while the far more interesting Robots are quite affordable.The camera featured on this page has an 'F' serial number, indicating it was made in the Second World War for the German military. The most common 'F' serial number camera variants are the classic black painted double-height spring models with black aluminium Tele-Zenars, made for the Luftwaffe. As you can see, mine has the standard silver-coloured top and bottom plates, and short wind knob, which adds to its rarity.
The camera serial number was later placed on the accessory shoe. There were minor differences in engraving. Lenses The Contax II was able to take the full range of earlier Contax I lenses which were re-issued in a chrome finish. In many focal lengths two lenses of different speed were offered, the slower lenses being cheaper and often smaller.
The lens is an uncoated four element f/3.5 3.75cm Tessar from Carl Zeiss.In 1943 the Berning and Co. Factory was moved from toto avoid allied bombing, and workers included Dutch andRussian prisoners of war (Source: ).My lens dates from 1942 (according to the Zeiss serial number), so the camera could have been made by prisoners of war in 1943, which would fit with the simplified design- my camera has no right-angle viewfinder, no thread in the shutter release, and no flash synchronisation. Other differences from civilian Robot II's are the black manual wind-on knob, an acessory shoe that I've never seen on any other camera (that I think may have been for a special action finder), an ever-ready case which has no robot branding on it (also made out of paler coloured leather), the main wind knob has no arrow engraving to indicate the direction to wind, the top plate has no engravings at all, there is no safety lock for the shutter release, the rear door has no Robot branding, and the film gate is made of bakelite instead of zinc.
The camera also came with a bakelite Robot lens cap, that I have never seen elsewhere- usually they are metal.This camera was brought to the USA by an United States Air Force Lieutenant after the war. His name and address are written in the case, but aren't clear enough to read- I learnt from the seller that the Leutenant's name was Milton M. The seller, whose parents had been close friends with Milton, thought he could have been stationed in Germany either during the war, or immediately after it.
From my research I have discovered that the owner of this camera was a navigator in a crew of a B-24H 'carpetbagger' (Source: ).A B-24H takes off from RAF Harrington. These aicraft flew special missions to supply resistance fighters with supplies, and to drop off teams of intelligence agents into Nazi occupied countries in Europe during the last year of the war.
On the night of the 8th/9th August 1944 Lt. Silverstein was one of the crew of B24H 42-51201 O 'Loretta Ann II' when it was attacked by a JU-88 night fighter and also hit by flak over the dropping zone in Beligium.Ju-88G night fighterWhen the aircraft arrived back in England, it was flying on three engines and had over 1,000 flak and cannon holes. Silverstein, along with other crew members, received the Distinguished Flying Cross for this action. I believe he completed his 35 missions with this crew, and left the theatre of operations. I can only speculate at what point he came to posess the camera- it is possible that he recieved it from a spy who obtained it in Germany while he was station ing the UK; but it is more likely that he was later stationed in Germany and picked it up there; or that he traded for it with another serviceman after the war.The forgotten film.When I bought the camera in 2006, there was a film still in the camera from the 1950's. I opened the film cartridge and exposured the film to the light, but the emulsion had long since lost sensitivity. After processing, the film was very heavily fogged, but I was able to make out some images.
It is amazing that the latent image, a hidden chemical record of photons hitting the emulsion, has survived for fifty years. The first two images to be recovered from this film can be seen below.Recent photos from the Robot.The Shuttleworth Collection's Westland Lysander IIIAKnowing the camera's history, it was great to be able to photograph this Lysander. This is the last air-worthy example of this type, and has been painted and fitted-out as a 'spy-taxi'. It is amazing to think that this camera may have been taken by Lt. Silverstein on similar missions.Sea Hurricane and Spitfire, Shuttleworth CollectionRose and Barbed WireOxford.Cleaning and Lubricating a Robot II. When my camera arrived from the US (it was an eBay purchase), the shutter wasnot completing the full cylce on the speeds slower than 1/25 sec, and the film drive would only rarely work at any speed (it had to be helped by pushing thespocket-drive with the back open, or gently turning the manual wind-onknob).
It was unusuable in this condition, so a decided to have a go atthe clean and lube myself (quotes for the repair by the only specialistin Robots (based in Germany) came to the same cost as I had paid forthe camera- which was already double what I had bid on eBay oncepostage, VAT and customs clearance charges were added).1. Removal of the manual wind-on knob and the associated drive bladefor the take-up cassette is advisable before removing the bakelite filmplane moulding (unlike in this photo!). The film plane is held in placeby two metal plates held down by two screws each. Take care with thethin and brittle plastic when removing it.2.
The top plate comes off after two screws, the manual-wind on andmain knobs are removed. The main knob on my model was simply removed byrotating it in the oposite direction to the winding direction. The filmcounter mechanism includes a sprung cog (that is under the button thatunlinks the film drive from the counter so it can be reset). It isadvisable to draw diagrams of how the parts are assembled at thispoint. I found double sided sticky tape to be useful for holding screwsand cogs in place next to their locations on the diagrams.3. The cover for the spring can be now be removed (take note- the fourscrews are not the same length). The spring barrel can be pulled up andout of the camera.4.
The metal pressing that is under the top plate is now removed, alongwith the screw holding in the film drive/shutter assembly in. Also thetube the manual wind-on runs in can be removed.5. The main film drive/shutter assembly is now just held in by the shutter speed selector dial.6. Under the speed dial there is a four-pointed star-shaped springproviding tension on the dial, and a couple of washers on the frontface fo the camera.7.
The main mechanism can be removed- the remaining chasis is quitelight (when considering the total camera weight), considering it is apressed steel structure with a double-thickness front for rigidityaround the lens mount.8. The next stages remove the capping blades and shutter disc to allowcleaning of the mechanism.
The four screws to remove are on the frontcorners of the shutter assembly. Once the screws are released, all theshutter components are free, so keep the mechanism level, and bepropared to remove and safely store the component from each level.9.
Removing the first sheet of black metal reveals the capping blades,these are directly linked to the movement of the shutter release,opening when it is depressed and closing as it returns so that theshutter can return to the cocked positon without exposing the filmagain. Note the four thick washers which space the sheets of metal sothe capping shutters can move freely- these have to be carfefullypositioned when re-assembiling.10. This stage shows the upper capping blade and its arm linkage removed.11.12.13.14.15.11.
This photo shows both capping blades removed, along with the two remaing linkages.12. Removing the next layer of metal reveals the shutter disc and itsthree spacer sheets in the corners. Take great care not to bend thevery thin vulcanite shutter, which would kink it and render the camerascrap.13. After removal of the spacers.14. After removal of the disc.15. The final metal plate which protects the shutter disc from the oilof the pivots of the mechanism (plus gives a smooth surface for it torotate against) is removed.16.17.18.19.20.16. The mechanism viewed from above.17.
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Robot Ii Camera Serial Numbers Download
The cam nearest the camera taking this photo is the shutter speedselector, engaging different timing gearings for the different speeds.18. The gears for film movement can be seen in this shot. The gearingat the bottom regulates the speed of the spring so it doesn't tear thefilm.19. The clock-work timing mechanism for slow speeds (1/10, 1/5, 1/2) isat the top in this shot. These pivots need light oiling with watch oilafter cleaning, else the slow speeds won't run at all.20. All the parts of the shutter laid out.21.21.
Here you can see all the parts of the Robot II with labels.To clean the mechanism, I soaked it for 15 minutes in a methylated spiritsubsitute. I rinsed it in isopentane as the meths subsitute didn'tevaorate very quickly, and not all of the dirt had been washed off someof the surfaces. After this had then evaporated, lubricated the pivots (using an opened paperclip) with specialist watch oil. Some pivots can be accessed from theshutter side, others need to be accessed from the sides.Ifound the long times would run after soaking in solvent, but when themechanism was dry, it wouldn't complete the slow timings. Afterlubricating the slow speed mechanism (see 19), it ran, but it is stillslow (1/2 sec is about 1 sec, 1/5 sec about 1/2 sec). As the Robot isan action sequence camera, I didn't worry too much about this, aseverything will be taken hand-held at 1/50 or above.
The film drivebefore cleaning wouldn't complete 9 times out of 10. After cleaning andlubricating, it has never not wound on, and sounds completelydifferent.
With the shutter speed set to 1/100 or higher, you can fire2 or even 3 shots per second. I have heard people mention it is capableof 4 or 5 per second, but this is not possible (at least with thisshort wind knob model- the tall double-spring models may be faster as the spring is more powerful). I have also heard that the spring fires less shots before winding if set to 1/500. This is also not true, my spring holds enough for 18 frames, no matter what the shutter speed is set to.
The camera pictured is a Robot II tall winder in not very good condition. If fully working its worth a premium over a 'civilian' Robot II due to its taller winder, black paint and 'Luftwaffe Eigentum' stampings. A well documented camera can fetch as much as 300 EUROs (480 USD at current exchange rates) and sometimes more. The camera pictured would probably not fetch much more than 1/2 that (with some luck). If the Biotar is the proper one with an alloy (instead of stainless steel) case and got a coated lens then it could be worth somewhat more.
Most of these, however, did not get Biotars but 75mm Sonnars (the alloy cased and coated Sonnars too are worth a bit of a premium to collectors). Most common were the 75mm Tele-Xenars. The 'holly grail' of Luftwaffe Robots is the Robot 375, a Robot II with large capacity (10 meters film or 375 photographs).
Its worth as much as 3000 EUROs or more. Although as many as 2000 were built most got destroyed.'
Transitional military Robot'What's a 'transitional' military Robot?The Germany military purchased mainly Robot IIs. The airforce got the model F-XXXXX-N models. During the war the production was moved for strategic reasons use so even the B's were numbered B-XXXXX-N.
Among the airfoce (Luftwaffe) IIs were those with tall and those with regular winder. Some later models did not get viewfinders and some did not get flash connectors. None of these are really that rare as about 20,000 were made and many survived. No all F-series Robots btw. Some were not made black and others got their black removed and were updated by Robot into civilian cameras after the war. Many 'black robots' that one sees were not black and some got their 'Luftwaffe Eigentum' added at later dates (some don't even have correct serial numbers).' In a used ceramics shop that turned out to be so rare 'Tell me more!
The Biotar is in 'average' condition and from 1938. If the glass is not too scratched up, without fungus and works it would fetch these days still not much more than $50 USD (on eBay probably much less unless it catches the eye of someone from China, Japan or Korea)- with a 'Luftwaffen Eigentum' stamp a bit more. The camera itself seems to be authentic (and of the same period) but somewhat beaten and incomplete: I don't see the winder for the top!? These were screwed onto the top as a kind of cap for the spring housing. Its used to wind the camera up. Replacement (albeit not original to that camera) can, of course, be easily found. Since its missing the cap I suspect its not been wound-up and tested.
Looking at the shape of the leather its perhaps been poorly stored and might no longer function. These cameras tend to need be functional to be collectible.Robot 'Luftwaffen Eigentum' cameras are not in the same collectors league as their Leica comrades. From a historical perspective, however, the Robot cameras are the more significant and in theory better suited to a collection. There were around 6000 of those tall winder F series cameras made.
During WW-II they were used in fighter planes (by not just the German but also by the English and Swedish air forces).There are many fake military Robots around but they are generally just Robot IIs (most even post-war production since civilian cameras were pre-war almost exclusively with single springs) with engravings and black paint and so relatively easy to spot by their intact serial numbers and other design bits (such as chrome under the black paint on the lower edges of the camera). Since there were more military tall winder model II cameras made than civilian (there were, at most, a few hundred of these made) most (but not all!) of the 'fakes' are with the single spring (normal winder) and B-series (most not even wartime B-XXX-N but many even postwar serial numbers). Single spring F-series Robot cameras are much rarer. Also note: Not all army cameras were black!Some might ask: Why are the Robot military cameras if so significant from a photographic/military technological perspective and not made (and survived) in numbers greater than the Leicas (short winder are much rarer) worth so much less?
Why is it that a 'Nazi Leica' (most are Russian) or Minox (ALL are fake!) can often fetch more than a F-series Robot? Why is it that Leica cameras (real ones, albeit mostly NOT of those made for the military) with Nazi graffiti seem to attract so much $$$? Those cameras are not about a piece of technological or military history but a kind of souvenir (the real military Leicas) or fan article (the fakes).
I suspect its the lure of evil.