Robot
Robot 1 – 9/99

Germany 1934 – Compact – 35 mm – Very Rare.

The Robot was made by Otto Berning & Co. (which became known as Robot) in 1934 and was a very innovative camera for its time.

It used a normal 35mm film on a shorter strike to produce square 24x24mm frames and had a recognizable winding clockwork mechanism for automatic film advance. That allowed a series of images in a few seconds without lifting the finger.  The Robot 1 is technically the first successful motorized still 35mm camera.

Maybe this feature plus the camera’s robust stainless steel body made it one of the preferred cameras of the German army. Especially the German Luftwaffe owned special versions of it.