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Thank you for the support. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled programming:
Starting off with the new year
of cameras, this post will be looking at another unknown, but interesting
camera. This is the 620 film Gnome Pre-View pseudo-TLR camera.
As with all new cameras, I
will be going over the camera company’s history. There is not much information
on the company itself, owing to it being a private company, but I did find some
basic information.
It was founded by Heinrich
Loebstein in Stuttgard, Germany (Art Deco Cameras 2020). Loebstein founded the
company in 1935 (CollectiBlend 2025), mostly focusing on manufacturing
enlargers, slide projectors and other photographic equipment (Camera-wiki).
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| Gnome catalogue. Image Source: https://museum.wales/media-dams/eba09393-6c91-38cb-aa57-a61167a8b307/mid/ |
But being of Jewish decent, Loebstein
had to flee Germany owing to the Nazis being in government and moved to Treforest,
Wales (CollectiBlend 2025) in 1938 and “…set up a factory in Britain's first
industrial estate at Treforest. The Treforest complex was meant to encourage
new types of industries to south Wales which was still suffering the harsh
economic blight of Depression…” (Art Deco Cameras 2020).
Still focusing on projectors and enlargers up until 1940, when WWII broke out, Gnome’s factories and buildings were commandeered by UKs Ministry of Aircraft Production, forcing Gnome to move its occupancy to Cardiff (Art Deco Cameras 2020).
There Gnome took part in the
war effort, by making “…enlargers for the Admiralty for use in aerial
reconnaissance…” and afterwards permanently stayed in Cardiff (Art Deco Cameras
2020). Going back to making enlargers, projectors and other dark room
equipment, Gnome also ventured in making cameras (CollectiBlend 2025).
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| Gnome Slide Projector. Image Source: https://i0.wp.com/drewfamily.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/96-06.png?w=820&ssl=1 |
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| Adox Polo camera. Image Source: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8322/8062894635_8cc7702d51.jpg |
.png) |
| Gnome Polo camera. Image Source: https://historiccamera.com/images2/tom/datasheet_3522_datasheet_image1.gif |
But they did make their own
cameras, such as their first camera the Gnome Pixie in 1949 (Art Deco Cameras
2020).
 |
| Gnome Pixie. Image Source: http://www.artdecocameras.com/images/gnome/pixie/pixie.jpg |
And like the Ising (see my Pucky
I post) and Rondo (see my Rondo
Colormatic post), Gnome only made a handful of cameras (CollectiBlend
2025). Such as the Pixie II, Baby Pixie (Camera-wiki), the Pixie-flex and then
finally the camera that this post is about, the Pre-View (CollectiBlend 2025).
 |
| Pixie II. Image Source: http://www.artdecocameras.com/images/gnome/pixieii/pixieii.jpg |
 |
| Baby Pixie. Image Source: https://collectiblend.com/Cameras/images/Gnome-Baby-Pixie.jpg |
 |
| Pixie Flex. Image Source: http://www.artdecocameras.com/images/gnome/pixie-flex/pixie-flex.jpg |
Gnome only made a small amount
of cameras, because as Camera-Wiki points out: “Gnome had little expertise in
camera design…” and similar to Rondo moved away from cameras to focus on
Enlargers, which 80% of enlargers in the UK was made by Gnome.
There isn’t much else, but I
did find some significant dates important to Gnome’s growth:
“1947 Listed Exhibitor -
British Industries Fair. Manufacturers of Precision, Photographic Equipment
including 7 in. (17.8 cm) by 5 in. (12.7 cm). Industrial Enlarger, 2¼ in. (5.7
cm) sq. and 35mm Portable Enlargers, Lighting Outfits, Developing Tanks, Printing
Boxes, Masking Frames, in fact all Equipment for the Amateur or Professional
Photographer. (Olympia, Ground Floor, Stand No. A.1016)”
“1954 Patent - Improvements in
or relating to optical projection apparatus, particularly photographic
enlarging apparatus.”
“1971 Patent - Photographic
Slide Projectors.” (Grace 2014)
And from Camera-wiki, we know
that in 1960 the company went public selling 400000 shares, as well as buying
back their original factory in Stuttgard, which was used as storage for the
equipment they shipped to Germany!
But like most things the
company was dissolved in 1988 (according to CompanyCheck 2026), but this
appears to be incorrect because as Camera-wiki and CollectiBlend (2025) both
agree that it actually closed in 1994.
Now it is not known why the
company closed due to Gnome being a private company. But there are two
possibilities. The most likely explanation could be that similar to Polaroid
(see my Polaroid
SX-70 post), Gnome couldn’t compete with the rise of the digital cameras in
the 1990’s and 2000’s, which made their darkroom equipment, enlargers, cameras
and slide projectors obsolete.
The other explanation could be
that going public and selling shares didn’t go as planned and the company went
under…
But those are only my
theories.
Anyway… back to the camera at
hand. Let us now focus on the first camera of 2026, The Gnome Pre-View! This
camera was released in 1952 “…after the main Art Deco period…” (Art Deco
Cameras 2020). The camera is made mostly of metal, is “100 x 115 x 94
mm” in size and weighs 375g (Art Deco Cameras 2020). And the best part is that
this camera still has the original box and instruction manual!
But now let’s have a closer
look. Starting as always with the front.
The lenses.
This camera, like the Ricohflex
IIII and the Pucky
I, this camera is a TLR and has two lenses: a viewing lens, top, and a
taking lens, bottom (Burrows 2021).
Now this camera can be
classified as a pseudo-TLR camera, due to the fact that the two lenses aren’t
connected and similar to the Pucky I the top lens, “will not reflect the set
focus distance (of the taking lens) …” (Eckman 2020).
But the key difference between
the Pre-View and the Pucky I, is that the Pre-View has a fixed taking lens with
a focus of 75mm (Art Deco Cameras 2020). Meaning that both the bottom and top
lenses cannot move, furthermore the manual states that the viewing lens:
“…shows exactly what will appear on the film…”
So, with this statement and
the fixed lenses, it is more fair to say that the Pre-View isn’t actually a pseudo-TLR
camera but technically fits the definition of a real TLR camera!
Now to look at each lens
individually.
The viewing lens-
Both lenses are “…of the best
quality meniscus…” according to the manual. (Also please see my Instamatic
10 post to learn about the meniscus lens.) The viewing lens is a brilliant
type (see my Brownie
1 and my Agfa 54
posts for more information), and is very large, which makes viewing a breeze.
Now for the taking lens.
This is also a fixed 75mm
meniscus lens, as mentioned. It also has a focus range of 6 feet to infinity
and the lens is “…set on the Hyper-focal distance in order to give the maximum
extent of sharp focus…” (manual).
Then in the right bottom
corner is the synchro flash socket, which seems to be a flash PC connector,
like the Pucky
I, and sets off the flash at the same time when the shutter is pressed.
Speaking of which, let’s have
a look at the top-
Starting with the shutter
release, which again like the Pucky I is on top. Except the Pre-View has a thin
metal L-shaped piece (similar to the Instamatic
104 and 50,
but inverted).
The shutter is described, by
the manual, as a “…self-capping, all metal type…” which is just another name
for a rotary shutter, just like the Brownie
Model 1, No.2,
Beau
Brownie, the Halina
Roy, Ensign
All-20, Agfa 54
and the Holiday
flash.
Now the shutter has two
settings, which can be found opposite side of the shutter release, in the form
of a lever.
The two settings are I, which
sets the shutter to 1/25 second and B, which leaves the shutter open for as
long as the shutter release is held down.
Then there is the brilliant
finder, that shows what the viewing lens sees on a 45-degree mirror.
Then behind that is the latch
that holds the film compartment cover in place.
Now for the sides.
Left-
Near the bottom, a bit off
centre, is the film advance knob or the winding key, which advances the film to
the next frame.
Then on the right-
Is the f/stop settings.
Similar to the Brownie
Nr.2 and the Beau
Brownie, it uses a lever that is pulled out to set the aperture, which
also, like the two cameras mentioned, as well as the Fancy
DX-3, Sinpo
PQ-3, Brownie
No.2, Beau
Brownie, the Agfa 54
and the Brownie
8mm Movie Camera II f/2.3/ 2.7,
this camera uses a piece of metal or plastic with different sized holes punched
in it, known as a multi-hole aperture, instead of aperture petals.
There are two settings, Brilliant (F22), when the lever is pushed in, to let less light in, when the subject is well lit. And when pulled out it is set to Cloudy (F11), to let more light in, in darker environments.
Also on both sides, one can
see studs where the strap is connected, which is important, because the manual
states then when using the viewfinder:
“The camera should be used
suspended at the full extent of the camera strap…” to help with the focus.
Now for the back-
Here is the film compartment
cover.
And on this film compartment,
is the red film counter window, with the cover.
Then we have the film
compartment-
This compartment is opened by
lifting the latch to open the film cover. The Pre-View film compartment is a
combination of the Ricohflex
IIII and the Pucky
I. By this I mean that the film compartment opens downward like the Pucky I
and has a film carrier that can be removed like the Ricohflex IIII.
But unlike the other two TLR
cameras, the Pre-View has something that I have never seen and that is that the
film cover is lined with a velvet-like material.
Anyhow… The film compartment,
like the Brownie
Model 1, No.2,
Agfa 54
and the Ricohflex
IIII, has a film carrier that detaches from the main body. To do this one
must pull out the winding key/film advance knob, which holds the carrier in
place.
Then from there the film is
loaded so:
This camera uses the now
discontinued 620 film (please see my Brownie
Model 1 post for information on this post) and takes 12 pictures with a
negative size of 2 x 2 inches (Art Deco Cameras 2020). But this doesn’t mean
the camera isn’t still useable, because with some modifications, this camera
can be made to take 120film.
And to learn how film works,
please see my 200
Color Plus post.
And that is that. A simple
camera, with a beautiful art deco style. The one thing I found remarkably
interesting about this camera is that the company name has a similar style and
font as the Ising and Ensign company names. But unlike the other two, the Gnome
company is distinct enough that I did not get it confused with the other two as
I almost did with the Ising and Ensign names.
What do you think? Would you
like to have a Gnome in your collection? Which do you think did the art deco
look better, the Pre-View or the Beau Brownie? And do you agree that this
camera should be classified as a TLR or do you think it is a pseudo? Let me
know in the comments.
And as always, thank you for making it to the end and I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did researching it.
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List of sources:
Art Deco Cameras.
2020. Gnome Cameras. http://www.artdecocameras.com/cameras/gnome/
Art Deco Cameras.
2020. Gnome Pre-View. http://www.artdecocameras.com/cameras/gnome/pre-view/
Burrows, P. 2021. The
rise and fall of the TLR: why the twin-lens reflex camera is a real classic. https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/features/the-rise-and-fall-of-tlr-cameras-why-the-twin-lens-reflex-is-a-real-classic
Camera-wiki. Gnome. https://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Gnome#:~:text=Gnome%20was%20a%20photographic%20equipment%20manufacturer%20with,Germany%2C%20established%20by%20Heinrich%20Loebstein%20(b.1894%20d.1977).
CollectiBlend. 2025. Gnome
Photographic Products Ltd. https://collectiblend.com/Cameras/Gnome/
CompanyCheck. GNOME
PHOTOGRAPHIC PRODUCTS LIMITED. https://companycheck.co.uk/company/02283220/GNOME-PHOTOGRAPHIC-PRODUCTS-LIMITED/companies-house-data
Eckman, M. 2020.
Bolsey-Flex (1954). https://mikeeckman.com/2020/04/bolsey-flex-1954/
Grace. 2014. Gnome Photographic Products. https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Gnome_Photographic_Products
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