The Presto Picture

Ever since amateur photographers began to turn their backs on the Brownie, U.S. and foreign camera makers have concentrated on ever more gadgetry. But all too often the array of index numbers, knobs, dials and levers simply befuddled the Sunday photographer, and that telephoto shot of Versailles developed into a study in black. The industry's answer: sophisticated but carefree cameras that require little more than clicking the shutter. At the International Photographic Exposition in New York last week, every company from Agfa-Gevaert to Zeis-Ikon was showing off automated midgets.

Instant Loading. The marks of the new, simplified camera are easy-loading, built in automated accessories and price tags around $60. In the past, fingers fumbled to thread film along sprockets and through take-up spools. To remedy the situation, Kodak two years ago brought out its line of Instamatic cameras that featured instant-loading Kodak cartridges in a new size, slightly smaller than the traditional 35 mm. Slip the cartridge into the camera and presto--you are ready to shoot. Not to be outdone, West Germany's Agfa came up with Rapid cartridges, which use the regular 35-mm., but thread automatically into a receiving cassette, require no rewinding when the roll is exposed. Other domestic and foreign firms immediately began to adapt their cameras to one of the two systems, so that 46 instant-loading cameras are now on the market.

Taking the picture itself is all but foolproof. Upon being loaded, both the Kodak and Rapid cassettes automatically adjust the camera for the speed-rating of the film being used. From there, automatic electric eyes take over, set optimum combination of shutter speed and lens opening for the amount of light. If there is not enough light, pointers pop into the view finder to tell the photographer to keep his shutter closed. Instead of bulky flash attachments, most of the new automated cameras have miniature, built-in flash units that disappear when not in use.

Polaroid, the leader in the move toward automation, is also making a bid for the under-$50 market that now accounts for three of every four cameras sold. Because of their built-in dark rooms, the instant-image Polaroid cameras were originally $100-plus luxury items. But as of April, a $60 unit was introduced, and by July Polaroid will put a $20 model on the market.

Fail-Safe. Movie cameras have also come in for a much-needed overhaul. In the last six years, the sale of 8-mm. movie cameras has dropped more than 60%, and the 16-mm. cameras have all but faded from the picture alto gether. One reason was that the cameras and projectors were simply too difficult to operate. As a result, the general run of home movies were bombs. Explained a Kodak survey in 1963: "Home movies create a situation in which one can fail. No man likes to appear a failure to his wife or children."

To make movies more fail-safe, Kodak, Bell & Howell and other leading manufacturers have turned out movie cameras almost as easy to operate as the stills. All but the cheapest models come with built-in light meters that set exposures automatically and zoom lenses that stay in focus at any distance. Best of all, Kodak has now come up with an improved 8-mm. film, which it has dubbed Super 8. By reducing the size of the sprocket holes along the edges of the film, it has increased the image area by almost 50%, allowing for brighter, sharper and better movies. (The Super 8 film will benefit movie-camera manufacturers as much as users; because it fits neither old 8-mm. cameras nor projectors, backyard directors will have to buy new equipment.) Even the projectors have improved; some now thread themselves.

Pushbutton Parade. For imperially priced foreign cameras such as Leica, Nikon and Rolleiflex, the trend toward simplicity offers no threat at all. The dedicated gadgeteer at home and abroad is still convinced that instant photographs mean instant mediocrity. Among the most spectacular new gadgets: an $895 radio transmitter unit that allows a Leica owner to trip his shutter four miles away from his camera, and a new $800 zoom lens for the Nikon that telephotos from zero to a six-times magnification. In all, the Nikon boasts 25 lenses, costing $7,950 (the camera itself costs only $323).

But other foreign camera manufacturers have been hit hard by the new automatics. Of the 8,000,000 Instamatics sold in the past two years, half were bought overseas. In self-defense, both Germany and Japan have joined the pushbutton parade. About 14 Japanese firms are negotiating with Kodak to make both the Instamatic and the Super 8. In West Germany, the Rapid cassette cameras caught on fast, and sales in the $7-to-$37 bracket have jumped 64% in the past year.

With all this new drive toward automation, the camera industry's next target is the subject matter itself. In recent years, Kodak has been planting signs marking the best photo vantage points around U.S. tourist spots. People line up behind such signs, waiting their turn to take identical photographs. Such programmed behavior may not smack of Yankee enterprise, but it does have one advantage--if fellow tourists accidentally swap Instamatics, it will not make much difference.

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