First moan is about my 'stock' of 110 projectors. I find I have three Leitz 110 slide projectors,all working, with bulbs, and the tiny magazines that they need for a visible film size of 13mm x 17mm.
I do have a large number of 3x3 slides from the days when I was taking pictures of four small children, now they wave a phone at me and send the result to some social site. These slides of mine are very bright and sharp from a Kodak 110 pocket Instamatic 60 on Kodachrome 64 for the most part, with a few on Agfachrome. This camera had just about the most reliable exposure system that I have found only let down by the weird battery that had three wired button cells in a plastic carrier. The lens had a superb lens of high tech construction said to include a moulded element but all beyond criticism- and claimed to be adopted by the CIA in a black version. The batteries however were hard to find, even in the day, and, I speculate, they resulted from a Kodak wish to make everything as simple as possible for the user even in the top of the range camera.A fine object in say, a hearing aid, but not in a state of the art camera.
As a Darkroom user of larger negatives I had no wish to use tiny colour negative films in the camera and only used slide films. Kodak offered two projectors in UK. The 210 and 610, separated only by a bit of automation, were made in Germany. Possibly made at Frankfurt, they were well designed to dispense with magazines using a small plastic case returned with each processed film. As with several Kodak slide films the location of the ultimate processing station was a secret and some films seemed to come back from distant parts of Europe. Not so Agfa, which always used a lab in Sweden! The big failing was the lack of any transformer in the projectors which chose to run at mains voltage with a mains QI bulb of 200 watt that was, again, difficult to find. It later transpired that a bulb designed for Photo Modelling lamps, part of a studio flash set up system, was similar. The heat was high and any fan fault could cause melting of moulded parts or at the very least a blown internal fuse, most parts being of plastic of a basic type. All in all, a good try in keeping the slide banner flying but one doomed by the Global move to paper prints and suspect engineering in Europe- which Kodak more than made up for in the USA, How?...... to Part Two
Part 2......
The UK and US markets were very different in 1972 with our latent tendency for the popular 'snapper' to recall the Box camera and it's paper prints with some affection. In the US a High Quality Pocket Carousel 100 and 200 were put on the market with a rotary slide magazine just under seven inches across holding 120 slides, more than enough to show at one session. There was a tradition of family slide viewing going back to the debut of Kodachrome in the 30's. From a personal point of view this magazine capacity contributed to the 'Christmas at both ends' family show we all know so well. This magazine had a security ring to avoid the dreaded dropping of the slides in a darkened room. Thankfully, the lamp was a DDA 150watt 24volt type that, although rather large, was a step in the right direction. Why the designers missed the fact that almost every projector in the world used a 'peanut' QI bulb of the basic type, available everywhere at low cost, I cannot imagine. These bulbs are universal, even today, and sold a rock bottom prices. However Kodak made a very nice little projector with a minimum of planned obsolescence.
So, we have a niche slide market with two major lines of projector both capable of fine results on the screen.
Enter LEITZ. It was known that Leitz looked at the 110 market and designed a prototype camera which was made for the 1974 Photokina. In the event, only the projector appeared which was probably a wise decision given the status of, and contrast with, of the usual Leitz cameras. As a parallel product a Agfa branded version of the same projector came on the market briefly, all mouldings were internally identical but with slightly different styling and a complex range of 110 cameras. The slides were carried in a very small'compact' magazine and in all cases seen were branded with both Leitz and Agfa names. However this small magazine held only 60 slides, probably enough to drive many of us to sleep, but more than adequate. A choice of lenses was given but I have only seen the Colorplan- the most respected name - in the UK and have never seen an Elmaron. Even a tape adapter plug was listed at the time!
The illuminant was a 12 volt 75 watt QI lamp in an integral reflector. This is, I think, of the same specification as designed for the v35 Enlarger and also used in Walner and Dunco enlargers and Colour heads. It is now obsolete but there is a whole home industry finding or fabricating equivalent bulbs for the enlarger, and in the case of a projector it seems that life can continue with a substitute. My projector has a Russian copy of the correct bulb and runs to my satisfaction. So,taking the long view, if one could have seen into the future in 1972 it might have been best to avoid 110 entirely. In doing so one would have missed some interesting times- and I still have four projectors to play with. The following photographs are a few features of the projectors described. In preparing this Blog I was well aware that another option existed in the Hanimex rotary band projector which was a truly original design with the slides clipped to a fabric belt which rotated at what could be high speed if desired and could give a form of animation rather like the flick-books made under the desk at school!Possible Japanese in design,I can only show a second hand picture, not of a very good standard but the fabric belt stretched from left to right across the machine. The problem came in the adhesive used to secure the stainless clips to the fabric which did not last well. Few will have survived. There was also an attempt to market a machine with rotary magazine of the German type by Kinderman/Leisegang which seems to have sunk without trace,in the UK at least.
To conclude, the design and construction of these short lived 'high tech' solutions seems rather hasty in retrospect and lacks any product development which might have added reliability and long life. The design branded for Leica and Agfa is basically sound but is founded on a lamp that was only on the market for a very short time. Leica users expect a lifetime of use! In any case the film was discontinued after a brief availability and we were left with colour print film only. Leitz as usual were allied with Agfa who could only offer their own slide film which proved rather grainy in this tiny format. Any association with Kodak and its superb film seemed impossible to consider. All a matter of Marketing really, and a field alien to Wetzlar!
The long lived Leica with quality lens but body of machine largely made of plastic.The lens is worthy of Leitz in it's quality and finish.
Leica internally, against Agfa. Embossed lamp spec.varies with I suspect the realisation that any 75 watt bulb will be fitted! The angle of the reflector can be critical in some uses.The Leica seems to be fitted with a thermal cut-out.Both have a spare glass fuse under the heat shield.
That's all folks.
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