The Rodenstock camera is a bellows camera manufactured in the 1930s by the German Optische Werke G. Rodenstock optical works. A camera with bellows represents the next stage in the development of camera design after the box camera. The advantages of flexible bellows with a slide-out lens include: the ability to use a large range of focus, ease of correcting the perspective, comfortable folding and unfolding, and relatively small dimensions when folded up. Such devices are very well suited for macro photography, i.e., where the recorded object is reproduced in its natural dimensions or slightly enlarged. Making such photographs was made possible by the double extension mechanism, where the camera lens is placed on a slide-out carriage attached to the lowered camera lid. In addition, thanks to the knob and the sliding mechanism, the carriage with the bellows can slide beyond the cover. The lens mechanism with the shutter can also be moved left or right, along the front axis of the camera. Such a solution allows relatively easy adjustment of focus, and thereby also of image sharpness.
The camera was sold by the Rodenstock company but not built by it. It has a ready-made housing, and a bellows mechanism purchased from another company dealing with the production and supply of such devices. A Rodenstock lens with a shutter made by Friedrich Deckel AG was installed on the complete camera. The entire unit thus assembled was sold as a Rodenstock camera. This was standard practice in the production of cameras at the time.
The Rodenstock family company was established by brothers Josef and Michael Rodenstock in 1877 in Würzburg, initially as a precision engineering workshop. At its inception, the company was named Einzelhandelsfirma Optisches Institut G. Rodenstock. In 1883. the seat of the rapidly developing company was moved to Munich. Over time, the company specialised in the production of lenses, spectacle frames, and optical instruments. From the beginning of the 20th century, Rodenstock produced series of lenses for different cameras. The company’s strength was its ability to implement innovative ideas. As early as 1899, the first corrective sunglasses with a UV filter were developed there, as well as “diaphragm glasses” – spectacle lenses with a black rim to prevent unwanted glare on the edges. Other achievements of the company include aperture and bifocal lenses. In 1968, Rodenstock was Europe’s first manufacturer to introduce self-tinting lenses, and in 1975 it developed the world’s first plastic lenses.

Author: Filip Wróblewski