The Gallus Bakélite was a 6x9 folding camera made by the French maker Gallus at the end of the 1930s. As its name implied, the body was made of bakelite, usually dark brown with black bellows. It had a brilliant finder.
The German company Ebner had developed a very similar folding bakelite camera in 1934, but went down in 1935. Some people say the tooling was ceded to Gallus. Though, the Ebner (see here) had a different body, and the Gallus might as well have been a copy. (Note that at the same time Gallus took over the production of the Derby 3x4 camera from Foth, another German company.)
Later Gallus ceded the camera to the Pontiac, who continued its production (see Pontiac Bakélite).
The Gallus is known with a 105/4.5 Boyer Topaz lens on a B-25-50-100 shutter, marked Gallus France. It is reported in McKeown with an Achromat f/11 lens or a 105/6.3 Boyer Topaz lens with Pose & Instant shutter.
A similar body with an Achromat f/11 lens, a P&I shutter and no other marking than Objectif Achromatique is identified as a Gallus by McKeown and Sylvain Halgand. One such camera has been observed in an eBay auction with a plate marked GALLUS COURBEVOIE inside the folding bed. The Photoptic site presents a similar camera with a MFAP plate here, indicating a Pontiac origin. On the same page, Photoptic also presents a Manufrance catalogue listing that body with no name and an achromat f/6.3 or f/4.5 shutter. Photoptic says the catalogue is from 1938, but a recent reedition of the Manufrance catalogues says 1939.
Bibliography[]
- Vial, Bernard. Histoire des appareils français. Période 1940–1960. Paris: Maeght Éditeur, 1980, re-impressed in 1991. ISBN 2-86941-156-1.
- Pontiac Lynx, Super Lynx, Baby Lynx, Fotofiche 15, Patrice-Hervé Pont, Ed Fotosaga