Germany 1952 – Compact – 35 mm – Rare.
The Futura S is a 35mm rangefinder made by Futura Kamerawerk starting in 1952.
Futura Kamerawerk, founded by Fritz Kuhnert, is an interesting camera company as it was a german company trying to create a good quality rangefinder differentiating itself from the format Leica was successfully promoting across the industry. The result is a very well built camera, maybe a bit heavy for its size, with a very distinct symmetrical design and very good features for its price.
The Futura S offered a Synchro-Compur shutter (hence the “S”) and interchangeable lenses with a custom mount. The lenses were named after Kuhnert’s wife Elenore (Elor) and his two children, Eva and Peter (Evar and Petar).
Unfortunately, Futura did not find its place between high quality, more standard Leica inspired german cameras and a growing Japanese competition and went out of business in 1957.
Overall less than 9000 Futura S were ever produced, making it a very interesting collectible today.
