Ansco

Explore 8 Ansco vintage camera models — specs, production history, reviews, and market values in the VTA archive.

Cameras

• Anscomark M — A rangefinder camera with interchangeable lenses, built in Japan by Ricoh for Ansco, featuring a selenium light meter and a color-coded triple-frame
• Cadet (1965) — Ansco Cadet II (1965) — gray Bakelite 127 film box camera, fixed-focus Anscar lens, one shutter speed, two apertures. Cheap, common, and full of character.
• Century of Progress (1933) — Ansco Century of Progress (1932–1933) — a 120 film box camera made for the Chicago World's Fair. Measuring 8.3 x 10.7 x 13.7 cm.
• Clipper (mid-1930s–1950s) — Ansco Clipper (mid-1930s–1950s) — simple all-metal 616 film camera with fixed focus Unifo lens and 2-position I&B shutter. 16 exposures, 2¼ square negatives, typically under $30.
• Memo II Automatic — A 35mm half-frame camera with auto-exposure and spring motor drive, rebadged from the Ricoh Auto Half. Find detailed specs and production dates here.
• No. 2 Box camera — A basic box camera using 118 roll film, producing 3.25 x 4.25 images, with a variant sold at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.
• Pix Panorama — A simple 35mm point-and-shoot camera with built-in flash and a fixed 28mm lens, marketed under both Pix Panorama and Pix Panorama Flash names.

Folding

• No 3A Folding — Ansco No. 3A Folding Buster Brown — a 122 rollfilm postcard-format folder from Binghamton, patented 1912, with Wollensak lens and black bellows.

Lenses

• Reflex (1947) — Ansco Reflex (1947): American 2¼×2¼ TLR with f3.5 anastigmat lens, 1/400 shutter, $246 new. Specs from Ansco's own catalog; little else documented.

Other Models

• 127 — A plastic-bodied snapshot camera made in the USA, using 127 film and featuring a fixed-focus ANSCAR lens. Find detailed specs and production dates here.
• 235 — A compact 35mm point-and-shoot camera with built-in flash, produced in 1979. This page has detailed specs and production dates.
• 35 — Ansco 35 (c. 1956-57): fixed-focus 35mm snapshot camera with 50mm f/3.5 Anastigmat lens, $39.95 at launch. Simple, inexpensive entry into 35mm photography.
• ADMIRAL — A compact twin-lens reflex–style camera made in Binghamton, NY, designed for 620 film and featuring a built-in yellow filter.
• ANSCOSET — A 35mm rangefinder camera made by Minolta, produced in 1961 and part of a series including the Anscoset and Anscoset III.
• AUTOMATIC REFLEX — A U.S.-built twin-lens reflex camera introduced in 1947 as a domestic alternative to German TLRs. With full specifications and original documentation.
• AUTOSET (c. 1960–1961) — Ansco Autoset: a rebadged Minolta Hi-Matic 35mm rangefinder — the camera John Glenn used to shoot the first color stills of Earth from orbit in 1962.
• Speedex — Ansco Speedex (1936–1940) folding 120 camera family — 85mm f4.5 Agfa Agnar lens, 6x6 cm negatives, budget entry to medium format.