Tourist

Tourist camera was produced at the GOMZ factory from 1934 to 1941. It is a medium format plate camera that used plates of 6.5×9 or 6×9 cm.

tourist camera

Tourist camera was equipped with an Industar 3.5/105 lens (which was a clone of Tessar lenses). Focusing was carried out by moving the front element of the lens (in the same way as on the Moscow-5 camera), which slightly changed the characteristics of the lens. Focusing occurred by the ground glass located in the rear of the camera body. The focus limit is from 1.5 m to infinity. The camera had a frame and optical viewfinders.

Tourist Specifications

  • Type: 6.5×9 folding camera
  • Manufacturer: GOMZ plant
  • Production period: from 1934 to 1940
  • Format: 6.5×9
  • Lens mount: fixed lens
  • Lens: Industar-7 f3.5/105
  • Shutter: leaf shutter with shutter speeds of 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 sec, «B» and «D».
  • Viewfinder: ground glass
  • Lighmeter: none
  • Flash synchronisation: none
  • Selftimer: none
  • Weight: 570 grams
tourist photo camera

The camera uses a leaf inter-lens GOMZ shutter without preliminary cocking of the shutter, with speeds of 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, K, and Д. The range of shutter speeds was criticized by users of those years. The lack of short shutter speeds did not make it possible to realize the potential of the fast lens.

tourist medium format camera
tourist camera from ussr
turist camera

Compared with Fotokor, the Tourist camera was more compact, the bakelite body was more reliable, the accessory cassette was easier to remove and insert. The camera itself folded and unfolded much faster. The drawback of the Tourist (or Turist) is paper sliding bellows, it was not reliable enough, but in skillful hands, it could be redone on fabric to eliminate this drawback.

The Tourist camera is optimized both for horizontal and vertical orientation of the frame. It even has two tripod sockets.

It is inconvenient to hold the Tourist in hands, the camera was clearly designed for shooting by using a tripod.

medium format soviet camera
turist soviet camera

This camera was one of the first medium format cameras in the USSR. This is a very unusual camera, which for many is more of a collectible interest. But we are sure that even with this camera it is possible to shoot amazing shots. But one way or another, if you want to start taking pictures on a medium format 6×9 film, then it is best to use cameras from the Moskva family.

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