BLAST FROM THE PAST QRS Kamra

John Wade uncovers a rare and short-lived 35mm camera

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Three years after Leica gave the world the first truly viable 35mm camera, along came the American Kamra, made by the QRS company in Chicago. The camera had originally been made in 1927 by the Ellison Kamra Company in Los Angeles, but shortly after its launch, QRS took over manufacture, made it slightly smaller, removed a hinged flap that folded over the lens, moved the viewfinder and resold it under their own name. If you find either version today still working, you're in luck. Nearly always their mechanisms are jammed, in which case, halve the guide price quoted above. Nevertheless, both incarnations of these cameras are inter