1947-1954 / Spartus 35F Model 400 / Vintage Camera

The Spartus 35F Model 400 is a basic, vintage 35mm viewfinder camera made in the late 1940s to early 1950s in Chicago by Spartus Corp., later Herold Manufacturing Co.; it features a Bakelite body, a simple 50mm lens with scale focusing from 4 feet to infinity, three preset apertures (f/7.7, f/11, f/16) plus a K2 filter, and a fixed shutter speed of 1/50 second with a bulb mode for longer exposures; the camera has a rewind knob, a threaded flash sync socket (hence the “F” in the name), a removable back for film loading, and film advance knob on the bottom, making it a compact, quirky, and collectible low-fi camera popular during the post-war photography boom for its simple operation and typical rough finish for the era.