Photo Porst was a German distributor and retailer of many brands of cameras. It was founded in 1919 by Hans Porst in Nuremberg, Germany. For many years Porst bought cameras from other manufacturers, among them Adox, Agfa, Balda, Braun, Dacora, and Franka, and rebadged them. In the early years, it used the Hapo brand, an acronym of Hans Porst, from the 1930s to the end of the 1950s. Later on, the house brand cameras appeared under the PORST name, e.g. PORST compact reflex or PORST 135 BS. The Carena brand arrived in 1960 as the name of a movie camera made for Porst by Büro-und Rechenmaschinenfabik in Liechtenstein. It came to be used more widely by Porst as an brand name for a variety of cameras. The Carena brand was sold to the Swiss company Interdiscount in the 1970‘s for use by it‘s own camera retail business. In 1982 Interdiscount bought a majority shareholding in Porst, effectively reuniting the Carena and Porst brands. Interdiscount’s interest in Porst was later sold to the Belgian company Spector NV. Interdiscount still sell some Carena branded photo products. A lot of these later house-brand cameras were produced by Cosina, but also by Balda, Franka, Fuji, Mamiya, Taron, and Yashica.
By 1996, the Porst chain of camera stores was Germany's largest photographic retailer[1], and in that year it was purchased by a Belgian investment group. In 2001, ownership was transferred to Pixelnet. The following year, the company became insolvent and the rights to the name Porst were sold to the German group Ringfoto.[2]
120 folder[]
- Hapo 3 (6×9 and 4.5×6), is a Franka Bonafix
- Hapo 3 (6×9 and 4.5×6), is first a Balda Fixfocus, later a Franka Rolfix
- Hapo 5 (6×9 and 4.5×6), is a Balda Juwella
- Hapo 10 (6×9 and 4.5×6), is first a Balda Fixfocus then a Balda Pontina
- Hapo 45 (6×9 and 4.5×6), is a Balda Pontina
- Hapo 50 (6×9 and 4.5×6), is an Adox Sport
- Hapo 100 (6×9 and 4.5×6), is an Adox Sport
- Hapo 66 (6×6), basically a Dacora I
- Hapo 66-E(6×6), is a Balda Mess-Baldix
- Lisette (4.5×6), is a Balda Baldax (prewar)
127 rigid[]
- Hapomatic (4×4), is a Braun Paxina Electromatic
35mm rigid[]
- Hapomat 100
- Hapomat 200
- Haponette
- Haponette B
- Hapo 24, is a Balda Baldina (postwar)
- Hapo 24e, is a Balda Super Baldina (postwar)
- Hapo 36 is a Regula Cita
- Porst CM-135 Auto (= Cosina CX-2)
- Porst LK 500
- Porst 135 S. (Rangefinder based on Konica C35 series. See Cosina 35 Compact E)
SLR[]
- Porst Autoflex (=Mamiya Auto Lux 35)
- Porst Autoflex TL (=Mamiya Sekor 528 TL)
- Porst Compact-reflex (=Cosina CSM)
- Porst Compact-reflex AM(=Cosina CT-4)
- Porst Compact-reflex SP (=Cosina CSR)
- Porst Reflex FX2 (=Praktica FX2)
- Porst Reflex FX3 (=Pentaflex SL)
- Porst Reflex FX4 (=Praktica PL Nova 1B)
- Porst Reflex FX6 (=Praktica Super TL)
- Porst Reflex 500 C (=Mamiya Sekor 500 TL)
- Porst Reflex S (Topcon Wink S Mirror)
- Porst Reflex TL
- Porst Reflex M-CE (=Chinon CE-2)
- Porst Reflex C-TL (=Cosina Hi-Lite HDL)
- Porst Reflex C-TL super (=Cosina Hi-Lite 405)
- Porst CR-1 (=Fujica STX-1)
- Porst CR-3 (=Fujica AX-1)
- Porst CR-5 (=Fujica AX-3)
- Porst CR-7 (=Fujica AX-5)
- Porst M-CE (=Chinon CE II Memotron)
- Porst CX-3 (=Praktica L)
- Porst CX-4 (=Praktica LB )
- Porst CX-6 (=Praktica LTL)
- Porst OC-N (=Cosina CS-3)
126 film[]
- Porst Automatic 500 (=Braun Automatic 300)
- Porst Automatic 501
- Porst Automatic 503 (=Dacora Instacora)
- Porst Automatic 504
- Porst Automatic 505
- Porst Feria 2000
- Porst Instapak 50
- Porst Instapak 100
- Porst Lucky
- Porst Photopak 50 (Inda FÉX)
- Porst Photopak 100 (=FEX-MATIC Cube)
- Porst Photopak 200
- Porst Photopak 220
- Porst Photopak 300
- Porst Photopak 320
- Porst Photopak 400
Disc film
- Porst Disc 30
- Porst Disc 60
110 film
- Porst Instaplus pocket 110 EF
- Porst Pocketpak 1000
- Porst Pocketpak 2001
subminiature[]
- Porst EX 55 ELECTRONIC mini-star (=Yashica Atoron Electro)
- Porst KX 50
Instant[]
- Porst Magic 500
carena[]
- another large range of cameras branded carena was sold by Porst and Interdiscount (see above)
Notes[]
- ↑ McKeown, p. 797.
- ↑ From 1996: Porst chronology at kamera-geschichte.de.
Bibliography[]
- McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover). Pp. 797–801.
Links[]
In German:
- The kamera-geschichte.de website has many pages about Photo Porst, among which:
- Photo Porst article of the German Wikipedia
- Interdiscount article of the German Wikipedia
In French / English:
- Porst Cameras at www.collection-appareils.fr
- Porst page at Collection G. Even's site