The Winpro 35. The birth of the low-fi plastic 35mm camera.

I'm working away on my 35mm toy camera issue, and this camera profile is a bit of a teaser from what I am doing.  

I think the grandfather of modern 35mm plastic cameras was the Winpro 35, introduced in 1947 by Webster Industries, of Rochester, NY.  It incorporates a single element 40mm f/7 Crystar lens with Instant and Time shutter speeds, single aperture and simple viewfinder in a Tenite plastic body.  It sold for $10.95 in 1947.  Still, a reasonable sum at the time. Kodak introduced Tenite in 1929, and it is considered the first modern thermoplastic.  The camera was advertised to be nearly indestructible by its designers, and in fact, they showcased the camera after having dropped it from a tall building.  Later iterations of the Winpro 35  featured several apertures and a flash connector.  The whole idea of the Winpro 35 was an inexpensive and reliable 35mm camera that was priced below the offerings of Argus and Kodak in post-WWII America.  Webster Industries sold at least 150,000 Winpro 35 cameras between 1947-49 and sold their patents to another group that eventually renamed themselves as the Zenith Film Company.  Zenith offered a color slide film based on expired Kodachrome patents, which they called Dynacolor.  Unable to retain the quality control of the earlier Winpro 35s made by Webster,  Zenith reached its nadir by 1952, where remaining Winpros sold for less than $8 at closeouts in Rochester area photo stores. [Glass Brass & Chrome, 1972;  Webster Museum page]  

My Winpro 35 is a later model, sold by the Zenith Film Co.  I purchased it on eBay for about $30, which is an average price for the camera in today’s market.  As you can see, the wind and rewind, and exposure counter are all on the bottom.  The camera strap wires hold the clam-shell body together.  The tiny viewfinder is centered over the lens. There is no tripod socket.  The three numbered apertures are probably f/7, f/11, and f/16.  

I loaded the Winpro 35  with a roll of Ilford Pan-F, which at an ISO of 50, should be the ideal match for this camera.   I shot a few photos with it last September with a bunch of photographers from the Asheville area during a photo walk in Marshall, NC.  It sat on the shelf until recently, when I realized that I had not developed the roll.  Seeing there was still some film left, judging by the exposure counter, I shot a couple of images on the B setting in my study/studio. Using the camera was not difficult - the camera actually works quite well, and I appreciate its ingenious design.

I developed the Pan-F in D76, and scanned the negatives with my Epson V700 scanner. The results were not as good as what I would get from a modern single-use camera, but they actually look like they were taken quite a while ago.

indoors, not so bad.

For the outdoor shots, I think I would have done better with an ISO 100 film.  The indoor shot was on B, and might have been 2 sec  at most.  The lens is prone to flare, and perhaps there's dirt and haze inside.  Maybe the price wasn't low enough in 1947 for this camera for it sell well.  Maybe it should have been $1.99.  Image-wise, it leaves a lot to be desired if you expected it to compete with something like an Argus A. However, as a toy camera, it's got atmosphere in spades!  The simple design predates the plastic craptastic wonders of the 1980s-2000s, and it is a lot sturdier than the ABS plastic cameras of today.

For more information on the WinPro 35, check out the following sites:

• Webster Museum - Chasing Down the WinPro
• Mike Eckman's website - Zenith WinPro 35
• Collection Appareils - Zenith Film Corp.

And of course, the fantastic book - Glass, Brass, & Chrome by Lahue and Bailey, 1972, Oklahoma Univ. Press. ISBN-0-8061-3434-8 (reprinted in 2002).

Kodak's New Product Announcement

Kodak to Reissue the Brownie Camera

Rochester, NY -- The camera that spurred on the amateur photography boom at the turn of the last century, and turned Eastman Kodak into an iconic symbol of prosperity and photographic prowess, is back. Yes, the Kodak Brownie. It assumed various forms after the initial wood and cardboard box camera, but the premise of simplicity and "You take the picture, we do the rest" remained, no matter what form the camera took. From the box brownies to the Pocket Instamatic, the Brownie camera became a symbol of simple, yet adequate snapshot cameras.


"We realized that the Holga and Diana cameras now being sold as film cameras of choice for the hip, young arty photographers are introducing a new generation to shooting film." said Lou Wratten of the Consumer Products division of Kodak. "Despite the popularity of the Holga and Diana cameras, they really are nothing more than cheap Chinese-made pieces of plastic with no more complexity than most Brownie cameras that were made by Kodak. We feel that rather than the Brownie being a symbol of Kodak's past, it should be reintroduced to a new generation that grew up on digital cameras and want something more from photography."

Kodak has not manufactured cameras in the US for nearly 25 years, but given the current economy, a small plant in Rochester, NY will be able to operate at a profit manufacturing the new Brownie camera. Sources within the company indicate that the Brownie will use 120 roll-film, just as the Holga and Diana cameras currently do. The camera will utilize a single meniscus lens for that sweet optical character that was typical of the early Brownie cameras. Unlike the earlier Brownies, the camera will not be made of wood and paper, but will be high-quality injection-molded plastic, and look very much like the box-like Brownie cameras made 100 years ago, except that they will be available in a variety of color schemes that will complement the hip fashions of today. A basic all-black version should be popular with older users wanting to rekindle their love for simpler days with a camera. An advertising blitz will be aimed at younger users and Kodak expects to offer something that the Lomo and Holga people do not have, and that is a processing service. According to Wratten, "We have heard from current Holga and Diana users that are frustrated by the lack of color film processing labs and the lack of support from the Lomographic Society once they have purchased a Diana or Holga. Kodak has the infrastructure and experience to offer a mail-in processing service that will not only develop and print the images made from these simple cameras, but will furnish online scans from the negatives that users can then upload to photo-sharing sites such as the very popular Flickr."

Sources at Kodak indicate that the new Brownie, with a manual, 2 rolls of the new Ektar 100 film, two processing mailers, and a presentation box with a Brownie time-line imprinted on the outside, will retail in time for the holiday season at a price of between $59 and $89. Kodak's page on the Brownie history is here.