THE VP TWIN CAMERA BY E ELLIOT LTD

My first camera aged 10 in 1958

 Fixed focus, aperture and shutter speed, taking 16 pictures on 127 film (splitting the normal frame into two by having two red frame number aligning windows).

 “With bloomed 'BOLCO' lens”, and a logo of a capital 'L' with a yacht behind it. Neither of these two puzzles were explained, nor was a maker's name and address evident, and I pondered over them  occasionally – what on earth was a BOLCO lens? What had a yacht got to do with anything?

 Only recently have I discovered that the logo was a rebus 'L YACHT = ELLIOT' (for Elliot's Cameras); and BOLCO stood for British Optical Lens Co, also owned by Edwin Elliot, which in the 1930s to 60s Made lenses for Elliott's cameras, and for the Coronet Camera Co.

 Of very simple construction and mechanics - made of black Bakelite (Elliot's also made Bakelite bodies for Coronet Cameras adjoining their factory), the back snaps off with the turn of a coin in a slot – no hinges or clasps or felt light seals. Internally no rollers to transport the film, it is just bent over smooth Bakelite curves, and no pressure plate.

 The viewfinder is a simple hinge up metal rectangle, depending on the average distance from the front of the cheek (against which the camera is pressed) to the eye, to approximate the correct framing .

 The shutter is just three components, a lever, a 'safety pin' spring and a swinging plate with a curved slot in it; it is double action, moving the lever either way fires it. The shutter mechanism is the only part of the camera painted black, rather surprisingly it is backed by a large shiny circular metal  plate facing the film, which must back reflect onto it. The shutter assembly was made by Coronet and presumably Elliot's didn't want the trouble or expense of painting anything themselves.

 A single meniscus lens, with pale blooming; a strange sophistication in such a basic camera.

 No screws, just rivet pins.

 It takes 16 frames on 127 roll film, so there is no mechanism needed to unlock the wind ratchet and wind back the film.

 So incredibly minimal and therefore cheap – indeed they were sold in Woolworth's, but because Woolworth's pre-war had a 'nothing over 6d' (2.5p) policy it was sold in three separate bits; the back, front, and lens/shutter, for you to assemble (this must have entailed driving the two rivet pins into the lens barrel yourself); post war this limitation was dropped.

 Elliot's make clear in the instructions that this was strictly a 'snapshot' camera – i.e. to be used only in direct sunlight with the sun behind you, and keeping the camera very still. Nevertheless all my photographs were quite acceptable – the frame format of 40 x 30 mm is of course slightly larger than the 36 x 24 mm of 35mm, so that improves the definition somewhat.

 It is the guide in the instructions to the minimum shooting distances that interested me. Rather strangely these are not mentioned under 'Taking The Snapshot', but are tucked away as an afterthought under 'Unloading The Film'.

Portraits may be made with this camera as long as the subject is not less than four feet away from the camera.  For other pictures eight to ten feet is the best distance. Owing to the special design of the VP Twin lens, anything beyond this distance will be in sharp focus. Thus it is possible to pick a picturesque or scenic background for your portrait subject  and thereby greatly enhance the beauty  of your picture.

  What, in so unsophisticated a camera, could this 'special design' be? It can only be that the camera is not focussed on infinity, but on its hyperfocal distance, a point were the depth of field (dependent on the f number and the focal length of the lens) stretches from infinity to half the hyperfocal distance, so much nearer objects will be acceptably sharp than if it was focussed on infinity.

  I have measured the optical parameters of my VP Twin  and they are:

Aperture            3.3mm

Shutter speed    1/135 sec in one direction, 1/248 sec in the other

Focal length       50 mm

f number             15.15    (stated to be 12.5 on the box)

  The formula for hyperfocal distance is:

                                                                              2  

                                                       (focal length)                     +   focal length

                            (f number)(Acceptable circle of confusion)

  The acceptable circle of confusion has historically been taken as 0.03 mm for 35 mm format.

  On this basis the hyperfocal distance is 5.500 mt, so the camera should render anything from 2.750  mt to infinity acceptably sharp.

  The minimum distances quoted above are Portraits 1.219 mt; Other 'Picturesque or scenic backgrounds'  2.438 – 3.048 mt.

  As portraits are traditionally taken slightly 'soft', ie out of focus, I think this demonstrates that the hyperfocal distance has been used.  Quite clever, but perhaps standard in all simple box cameras?

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