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The Corfield company started just after WWII by two brothers as a small family company, initially in their own home in Wolverhampton! Their first product was an exposure meter for photographic enlargers, the Lumimeter, followed by several other accessories. The success of these and the talent of the Corfield brothers for design and marketing let to the development of their first camera, the 35mm Periflex with Leica screw mount. This compatibility with the Leica was a genius move as it allowed people to use the many accessories that were made for that system and were easily available. As the name indicated, the original Periflex camera had a unique design feature: a small periscope that could be lowered in-between the focal plane shutter and the lens, and was used to focus the image. Unlike a true SLR, however, the image still needed to be composed using an additional viewfinder. Corfield also produced a 50mm lens, the Lumar, in collaboration with the British Optical Lens Co. As lens and body were made of aluminium, the camera was surprisingly light for its size. The build quality was not quite up to the Leica standard but it was a very capable and successful camera indeed. Very first version of the Periflex in black enamel with pigskin cover and Lumar 50mm f/3.5 lens, shown here with its rather plain original box. The pigskin cover stained easily and therefore Corfield soon decided to use black leather instead. |
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