Picture of Progress

To snap nearly 2 billion photographs with 59 million cameras in 1956, Americans spent a record $982,897,000. Last week, as 100,000 camera fans jammed the Second Biennial International Photographic Exposition in Washington, D.C., the picture was even bigger: more than $1 billion will be spent in 1957. Crammed inside the National Guard Armory were 30 acres of displays by 154 U.S. and 84 foreign exhibitors, the biggest collection of camera gadgetry ever assembled in the U.S.

With color photographs accounting for 30% of the market last year, U.S. companies had better film, new lines of inexpensive cameras for color fans, including a Kodak "Starflash" selling for as little as $8.50. As usual, the biggest news was the hot rivalry between German and Japanese cameramakers, which will make Americans the world's luckiest camera fans. From the Germans, whose 1956 U.S. sales ($8,600,000) were 14% of their total production, came subtle refinements of a product that dominated the world market for 30 years. From the Japanese, whose 1956 U.S. sales ($7,000,000) were 18% of total production, came cheaper cameras that are equaling German quality. Some show stoppers:

P: Germany's Rolleiflex has a cheaper, smaller model. Available by midsummer, the Rolleiflex 4x4 with Xenar 3.5 lens has all the features of the regular Rolleiflex plus easier loading, and a faster knob to replace crank winding. Price: $149.50.

P: Germany's Agfa line has a standout offering in a new automatic "66," a 120-film camera with a built-in light meter that computes the correct exposure time, then sets the shutter to the correct speed automatically. Price: $220.

P: Japan's $99.50 Minolta Autocord, introduced last year as the cheapest, quality twin-lens reflex camera anyone could expect, is being superseded by an even less expensive model: a new automatic Yashica-Mat at only $75.50, which will give budget-conscious amateurs near-professional tools.

P: Japan's new Nikon camera, which will be on the market in four months, has a refinement unknown even to present German 35-mm. cameras: a battery-operated motor for fast shooting which can be pre-set to take any specific number of pictures at either two or three shots per second. Price: about $450.

Looking over the show, Sylvania Electric Products Inc. President Don G. Mitchell told U.S. camera fans that they can soon expect even more wonders. Said he: "The camera of the 1960s will use electronics to adjust the lens, cock the shutter and wind the film. You will be able to take motion pictures on magnetic tape and play them back through your television receiver."

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