Nagel
Excellent! 1931 NAGEL PUPILLE camera, Freshly Serviced!
Cleaned, Lubricated & Adjusted. Ready for immediate use
This is the famous Nagel Pupille camera. This lovely little camera was designed and produced in the Nagel-Werk Kamera factory in Germany before the war. This company was well known for its unique designs and well respected for its high quality products.
The Nagel Pupille was produced between 1931 and 1935. It was carefully designed to be as compact as possible and this is evident in the way it comes apart for film loading. It’s half the size of a screw mount Leica(!) but produces a much larger negative. The difference is due to the use of 127 roll film, which has a format of 30x40mm. (35mm cameras such as the Leica produce 24x36mm.) 127 film is still available from specialty film firms on the internet and this film is popular among collectors who actually use their vintage cameras because of the very compact size of the cameras and the generous format of the negatives. In fact many photographers of the 1930’s preferred these cameras above early 35mm cameras for precisely this reason. The generously proportioned 3x4 cm negatives produced a superior image when enlarged.
This camera is all original and has a lovely patina. (Please see photos.) This camera has beautiful nickel plated metal work which contrasts nicely with the black lacquer trim and black leather covering.
This camera been carefully cleaned, lubricated and adjusted
and everything works as it should. The quality Compur shutter works smoothly and all speeds (T,B & 1 sec - 1/300th) are appropriate. The slow speeds buzz along smoothly and the faster ones are clean and snappy.The lens is a 2.8/50mm Schneider Xenar, it’s nearly identical in design and performance to the Zeiss Tessar and has four elements in three groups. It’s well known for its lovely rendering and fine background bokeh. The glass does have fine scratches but it’s still capable of producing lovely photos with modern color and B&W films. (As with all prewar lenses, we recommend keeping the sun to your back for optimum performance.
All in all, a very lovely vintage camera, ready for use or display in your collection.