In 1928, according to the decree by the Supreme Soviet of the National Economy of the RSFSR, the Leningrad State Optical and Mechanical Plant started to develop the first mass-produced Soviet camera. Two years later, the model “Fotokor-1” was launched. This device was produced in the Soviet Union before the start of the Great Patriotic War: over those 11 years, more than a million copies in total were made.
The “Fotokor-1” is a plate folding camera with the 9×12 format. The photographic material used for it was glass plates coated with a layer of light-sensitive emulsion. When a picture was taken, it produced a negative image. Then the pictures were printed on paper. The plates were put in metal cassettes, which were inserted into the camera body. Such materials were stronger and more durable than celluloid films, but they also weighed more and were not crushproof.
The “Fotokor-1” was considered a universal camera. It could be used in any lighting condition, with or without a tripod. Due to the mobile optical mount, this device was allowed to take photos of objects from different angles without perspective distortion.
The camera body was covered with black leatherette. There were rails on the plate that moved the lens when the focus was adjusted. For the tripod, there were threaded holes in the case and the plate: they allowed both horizontal and vertical position of the device. Moreover, the case was equipped with two viewfinders, an exposure scale, and a lever which was used to release the shutter.
The “Fotokor-1” camera presented in the exposition of the National Museum of the Republic of Mari El used to belong to the family of a collective farmer Darya Arbuzova from the Zvenigovsky district of the Mari Autonomous Oblast. In February 1936, Arbuzova was sent to the Fifth Regional Congress of collective farm shock-workers, which was held in the city of Gorky — modern Nizhny Novgorod. She was a representative of the collective farm called “For communism”. Darya Arbuzova received the camera as a valuable gift for special achievements in agriculture development.
The “Fotokor-1” is a plate folding camera with the 9×12 format. The photographic material used for it was glass plates coated with a layer of light-sensitive emulsion. When a picture was taken, it produced a negative image. Then the pictures were printed on paper. The plates were put in metal cassettes, which were inserted into the camera body. Such materials were stronger and more durable than celluloid films, but they also weighed more and were not crushproof.
The “Fotokor-1” was considered a universal camera. It could be used in any lighting condition, with or without a tripod. Due to the mobile optical mount, this device was allowed to take photos of objects from different angles without perspective distortion.
The camera body was covered with black leatherette. There were rails on the plate that moved the lens when the focus was adjusted. For the tripod, there were threaded holes in the case and the plate: they allowed both horizontal and vertical position of the device. Moreover, the case was equipped with two viewfinders, an exposure scale, and a lever which was used to release the shutter.
The “Fotokor-1” camera presented in the exposition of the National Museum of the Republic of Mari El used to belong to the family of a collective farmer Darya Arbuzova from the Zvenigovsky district of the Mari Autonomous Oblast. In February 1936, Arbuzova was sent to the Fifth Regional Congress of collective farm shock-workers, which was held in the city of Gorky — modern Nizhny Novgorod. She was a representative of the collective farm called “For communism”. Darya Arbuzova received the camera as a valuable gift for special achievements in agriculture development.
