Foto-Trud

After the 1917 revolution in Russia, a lot was destroyed. Many factories did not work, and plants ceased to produce products. But from the beginning of the 1920s, the Soviet government began to gradually restore production, but already with a different approach. There was no longer private production, and all means of production belonged to the state.

Until 1922, the Soviet Union did not officially produce photo accessories, and all necessary photographic films were taken from pre-revolutionary stocks. The emulsion was washed off from the old negatives, and the glass so cleaned was used again.

In 1922, the Aerofoto factory began to produce in sufficient quantities quite satisfactory photo products. Already since the mid-20s, several more state-owned factories producing photo products have appeared.

In addition to state-owned factories, there were many artel manufactures that produced a considerable number of photographic plates. The largest of these manufactures was the Foto-Trud (photo labor) cooperative artel, that produced high-quality photographic plates and paper.

In 1929, the Foto-Trud artel began production of the first Soviet serial 9×12 camera under the name EFTE-1. In 1932, the next model was launched under the name EFTE-2. At the beginning of 1933, the production of cameras, called the ARFO was separated from the partnership into an independent direction. It is worth noting that all these cameras were copies of German cameras from Zeiss.