Robot (camera) Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Heinz Kilfitt designed a new 35 mm film compact camera around a new 24x24 format (instead of 24x36).This allowed 50 exposures per standard role instead of 36 but made the camera less popular. It was a motorized camera powered by spring motors. Kodak and Agfa rejected the design and it was sold to Hans Berning who set up the Otto Berning firm.
Otto Berning got its first Robot patent in 1934. The patent omitted the spring motor drive, but the first production cameras had a spring drive that could turn at 4 frame/s. The body of the Robot 1 is Stainless steel. Kilfitt designed a rotary shutter with speeds from 1 to 1/500th second. The camera uses custom "Type K" cartridges, not the standard 35 mm cartridges available today. The camera has no rangefinder : it was designed for use mostly with short focal length lenses (g. 30 mm)