I was surprised that kind of technology was around in 50s but obviously I am wrong.
When were those type of cameras introduced?
Where they readily available?
Where they relatively expensive?
Was it realistic for a 50s photographer to have one?
The miniature camera Eddie Albert used to take pictures of Audrey Hepburn was a Japanese made Suzuki Optical Co. Echo 8. It combined a small camera and a working Zippo-style cigarette lighter. It retailed for $19.95 U.S. Came out in 1951.
There were much smaller "spy" cameras at that time and long before. A Russian-made one from the late 1930s was disguised as a large coat button!
Minox subminiature cameras were the predominate "spy" camera used for espionage work etc for decades in the 20th century: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minox
http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Echo_8_and_Camera-Lite
http://books.google.com/books?id=I5iyf8kmlHQC&lpg=PA94&ots=6-Z 5-fbPjp&dq=minox%20camera%20roman%20holiday&pg=PA94#v=onepage& amp; amp;q=minox%20camera%20roman%20holiday&f=false
Do you know what type of resolution the camera used in the movie had? At the end of movie, when they showed pictures they looked real good quality. I doubt that the quality would have been that good in those camera.
shareI'm not sure, the film used was 8mm (16mm film sliced down the middle) so was much smaller than regular camera film, so an enlarger would be needed to make decent sized prints. Eddie Albert's photographer character undoubtedly had access to darkroom and developing equipment. The shutter speed was 1/50 sec and had a couple different aperture settings (such as f3.5) which combined should produce a decently sharp bright image in bright light (daylight). It had a 15mm lens which was very wide angle so portrait-style people photos could be distorted. The better quality Minox subminiature (spy)camera of that era (1950s) supposedly could produce very good images.
It wouldn't be that surprising if the movie depiction of what a spy camera could do and produce as far as quality images was overstated some. It's a movie! and Fun!
Some more fun fact tidbits:
http://www.faqs.org/espionage/Bl-Ch/Cameras-Miniature.html
http://www.vintagephoto.tv/echo8.shtml
On an 8mm camera, a 15mm lens is NOT a wide angle for that format.
Terry Thomas
Film Unit Stills Photographer
www.TerryThomasPhotos.com
Atlanta, Georgia USA
That's true, considering that smaller format.
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