Ilford Witness Rangefinder Camera

J

John C. Ling

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Apart from rare Leica cameras, this is probably one of the most expensive rangefinder cameras available for sale. I came across an example recently and its quality and useability quite impressed me. Too bad that less than 500 were ever made. This camera probably represented the best photographic product that ever originated from Britain. It was actually developed by two German Jews who found refuge in the United Kingdom before the Second World War and put on sale postwar there for a brief time only. These two individuals were influenced by their experience working for prewar Leitz and Zeiss. What I found unique was their Leica screwmount mount on the Witness, with its interrupted thread design making fitting the lens so much quicker than any other Leica screwmount-type cameras. Any comments from others familiar with this camera will be welcome.
 
I've not played with a Witness but don't forget Reid and Sigrist. However I was told that the quality of their camera assembly went downhill after the purchase of the company by Decca.

Then, straying away from 35mm there are Thornton Pickard, Sanderson, Gandolfi etc etc, I'm sure others will chime in with their favourites.
 
The Ilford Witness is one of the most beautiful 35mm cameras, second would be the Nikon SP in my book.
 
Dralowid said:
I've not played with a Witness but don't forget Reid and Sigrist. However I was told that the quality of their camera assembly went downhill after the purchase of the company by Decca.

Then, straying away from 35mm there are Thornton Pickard, Sanderson, Gandolfi etc etc, I'm sure others will chime in with their favourites.
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Decca? As in the recording company?
 
KoNickon said:
Decca? As in the recording company?
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Yes. I may have this wrong wrong but Decca was a major contractor to the military/government for navigation and radar equipment (I don't know what else). Reid and Sigrist were also a contractor for all sorts of technical stuff. The Leica III drawings etc were offered by British iIntelligence to Reid and Sigrist in order that they could take on a contract to supply the military with cameras and then go to general retail. It would have been a little sideline for them. In the end the Reid was more expensive than the Leica and out of date by the time it launched. They were still selling it in the early '60s by which time Leitz had moved on...

If I have anything wrong please correct me.
 
I think that the Ilford Witness and Reid & Sigrist cameras illustrated only too well that Britain could make very high quality cameras post WWII, but not economically. The same was probably true or lenses many makers of which were absorbed by the Rank Organisation and whlst a few of these now still survive following management buy outs and the like (albeit in other forms like Cooke), most disappeared. Others moved 'sideways' into other oreas (I used to deal with Beck many years ago as they built MTF lens test rigs for example). Gandolfi survived until 2017 after the brothers sold up (I have some of their cameras and many were hard used whilst others were collected by looking at their condition).
 
Dralowid said:
Not forgetting the Microcord, Periflex etc etc!
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I wouldn't class either as particularly 'high end"! Not bad, but both were fairly run of the mill (I've owned cameras from both makers). Reid & Sigrist were high quality but didn't use metric threads and from what I gather have often become unreliable and are not easy to repair/service. MPP and Periflex are often uneconomic to repair due to their relatively low value.
 
I have a British Reid rangefinder camera presently undergoing shutter curtain replacement by an expert camera repairer-watchmaker in Southern California named Cuong Dang. He is quite intrepid and is capable of repairing any camera presented to him. He showed me a Kodak Ektra that was sent to him recently and he will be restoring its defective shutter. I was really impressed with his skill when he restored the frozen helicoid action of my vintage Carl Zeiss 50mm f2 Planar lens made for the Contarex. I had contacted other camera repairmen in the USA and no one else wanted to fix this problem, caused. by severe congealing of the lubricating grease used by Zeiss in the past. This lens is now in almost new condition, cosmetically and mechanically. He is also an expert Leica rangefinder camera repairer. I must also mention that he has serviced two veteran Jaeger Le Coultre Atmos clocks for me; they are running like new again. I recommend him highly.
 
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