Durst AUTOMATICA

The smartly-styled Automatica is an eye-level 35mm camera which has fairly basic specifications but several interesting design features. The body is solid cast metal with nice satin chrome, about the size of a Leica M4, and at 691 grams it weighs nearly the same. The top plate is quite uncluttered as the rapid film wind lever sits flush and rises up as you rotate it, clever. The rewind knob also sits flush and pops up when the rewind button on the base is pressed in. The non-interchangeable Schneider Durst Radionar f2.8 45mm scale-focusing lens is mounted in a Prontor-SVS shutter. There is no rangefinder. The front-cell focusing ring has two scales; one in feet viewed from the top, the other in meters viewed from underneath. There is a click stop at 10ft / 3m.  The viewfinder has bright yellow framelines but is not parallax compensated and displays no exposure settings.  

To use the camera for automatic exposures you set the shutter speed to the red 300 position which is also marked “automat”. Beneath the front meter window is a lever and this you move to the red ‘A’. The selenium meter will now choose a shutter speed between 1/4 and 1/300 and indicate it in a window on the top plate. The area below 1/30 is red and has a little picture of a tripod as a warning when a slow speed is selected. The ASA/DIN setting determines which fixed aperture will be used; an early, but inflexible, method of aperture-priority exposure.

ASA 6              =            f2.8

ASA 12            =            f4

ASA 25            =            f5.6

ASA 50            =            f8

ASA 100          =            f11

ASA 200          =            f16

ASA 400          =            f22

I have seen many dual scales on cameras and lenses but here we have three scales around the shutter - a black DIN scale, a green ASA scale and a red aperture scale – all on the one ring. There are three red reference dots on the lens mount, one for each scale. For auto you need to set only one speed scale. For manual exposures you move the lever to the green ‘O’ and then set the shutter and aperture as required – something you might often do rather than having to use f22 with 400ASA film in dull light for example.

The shutter release is nicely positioned on the front of the camera; often not an ideal location especially when you have to push downwards, like a Retina Reflex or a Praktica for example, as this can cause camera movement. To use the Automatica’s release you squeeze inwards which can add to steadiness. Additionally the coupling to the shutter is by a pneumatic cylinder and so the action is quiet, precise and smooth.

The Automatica was made from 1956 (*or probably from late 1959) until 1963 with only a few minor changes in appearance, so there should be many in circulation; but while it is not scarce, it is not frequently seen for sale.