Tessina
Encyclopedia
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
patented by Austrian chemical engineer Dr. Rudolph Steineck in Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
Switzerland, manufactured by Siegrist in Grenchen
Grenchen
Grenchen is a municipality in the district of Lebern in the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland.It is located at the foot of the Jura mountains between Solothurn and Biel. With over 16,000 inhabitants, it is one of the larger towns of the canton of Solothurn...
Switzerland. It was introduced in 1957 and distributed by Steineck's company Concava S.A and remained in production up to 1996. The Tessina takes 14x21 mm pictures on standard 35 mm film (loaded into a special cassette), making it one of the few subminiature cameras to use the format. It is a very small (2.5x2x1 inch) twin lens reflex, with two 25 mm f/2.8 Tessinon lenses
Photographic lens
A camera lens is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic film or on other media capable of storing an image chemically or electronically.While in principle a simple convex lens will suffice, in...
,one for taking picture, one for viewing on a tiny ground-glass focusing screen on top of the camera. A 45° mirror
Mirror
A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection...
is employed to bend incoming light
Light
Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380 nanometres to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz...
onto the film
Photographic film
Photographic film is a sheet of plastic coated with an emulsion containing light-sensitive silver halide salts with variable crystal sizes that determine the sensitivity, contrast and resolution of the film...
, which lies along the bottom of the camera rather than the back to save space. Aperture
Aperture
In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture of an optical system is the opening that determines the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane. The aperture determines how collimated the admitted rays are,...
s are continuously variable down to f/22, and shutter speed
Shutter speed
In photography, shutter speed is a common term used to discuss exposure time, the effective length of time a camera's shutter is open....
s range from 1/2 to 1/500, and B. The Tessina 35,Tessina L can focus down to 9 inches, Tessina Automatic 35mm to 12 inches. The film is advanced via a clockwork
Clockwork
A clockwork is the inner workings of either a mechanical clock or a device that operates in a similar fashion. Specifically, the term refers to a mechanical device utilizing a complex series of gears....
master spring built into the takeup spool, with a pullout winder like the crown on a wristwatch. Each winding can last up to 8 exposures.
Three models have been produced: Tessina Automatic 35mm, Tessina 35 and Tessina L; available were a variety of color/finish combinations that included brushed, painted or anodized aluminium, black and aluminium, all black, gold and red. All three models are very similar.
Accessories include:
- folding focusing hood/sports finder (standard fitment)
- 6x pentaprism (black and chrome)
- 8x magnifier viewer
- folding sports finder (no optics)
- chain and tripod adapter
- hotshoe adapter
- film loader
- Selenium exposure meter dimension:26.5mm x22.2mm x9.8mm, weight 19.5g, the smallest exposure meter in the world.
- flash gun
- Tessina 17 jewel mechanical watch
- leather belt case in black or brown with gold color trim.
- Wrist bracket, for wearing Tessina camera like a large watch