Sport/Gelvetta a landmark in technology

Here we demonstrate the working mood of shutter curtains in the Sport/Gelvetta Camera.

This camera which was undoubtedly the first SLR conceived for using for use 35mm film, took inspiration in the 1932 Contax external style.

Based in the previous MIN concept of 1927, shows the option of mass diffusion of the 35mm film as an amateur standard long before this idea took other countries.

Besides being a compact and solid SLR hand camera, It introduced many advances. The first one was the shutter operated by mirror, always clearing the light, a feature not commonly found in these days. The second one was the employment of rigid laminated steel vertical blades and an internal frame to block the light after exposure was made, and more, the non rotating speed dial, the ultra soft release, the front release knob as an extra against vibration, and the overall simplicity and extraordinary reliability for those times and today. Another extras are the full frame focusing screen, which always was a nightmare of camera designers and the built in telescope sports finder.

Another first was the fact this camera ws the first to be used together the future famous Maksutov lenses.

I prepared these sheets based on the camera itself and in the available data from Photohistory.ru (Abramov), the site of Alexei Niktin, Soviet CAMS(Aidas Pikotas), Nightphoto(Bill Parkinson), Appareils Photographiques (de Halgand), notes on From Russia with a Click (Albino Pegorari and Claudio Asquini) and literature of and the topics in USSRphoto (Vladislav Kern). These papers are aimed to classes of historic camera technology.