Company
Perfex was the brand name used by Candid Camera Corporation of Chicago, Illinois. The company focussed on 35mmrangefinder cameras, but also produced a double 8mm movie camera. Perfex cameras were in production from 1938 through 1950.
Perfex Cameras
The first Perfex camera was the 1938 Speed Candid. This camera took 135 film, featured a built in extinction meter, an uncoupled rangefinder,and a cloth focal plane shutter with speeds up to 1/500 of a second. It was available with either a 3.5 or 2.8 50mm Graf Perfex Anastigmat lens.
The Forty-Four quickly superseded the crude Speed Candid in 1939. This model featured a much more cleanly styled body, a couple rangefinder, a hot shoe, and shutter speeds up to 1/1250. This model was replaced by the Fifty-Five in 1940.
The Thirty-Three introduced in 1940 was essentially the same camera as the Forty-Four but with blacked out trim, and minus the slow shutter speeds.
The Fifty-Five was essentially an updated and further refined version of the Forty-Four. This model survived WWII and was discontinued in 1947.
The Deluxe was much the same as the earlier models, but featured a stamped metal body instead of a cast one.
The One-O-One and One-O-Two were introduced in 1948 and featured an f4.5 or f3.5 lens respectively. They departed from the earlier Perfex models by having non-interchangeable lenses, and diaphragm shutters. They also lacked the extinction meters that were standard on all previous models.
The Cee-Ay 35 was introduced in 1949, but few were made before Perfex sold the design and it became the Graflex Ciro 35.