Abstract: A close-up attachment, including a close-up accessory lens and a corresponding finder lens, is attached to a single-use camera by means of a plug-like insert which is manually positioned in an open viewfinder tunnel of the camera.

Abstract: A camera has a rear door which is opened to reveal a cartridge receiving chamber, a pair of substantially parallel film rails located adjacent opposite sides of an exposure opening to support successive lengths of a filmstrip over the exposure opening, and a film take-up chamber. A rigid film pressure plate is connected to the inside of the door to rest against the rails over the exposure opening when the door is closed, to support successive lengths of the filmstrip flat at the exposure opening. According to the invention, a single-piece of resilient compressible opaque material is secured to the inside of the door to form a unitary deformable surface for sealing the cartridge receiving chamber, the exposure opening, and the film take-up chamber against ambient light and dust and urging the pressure plate against the film rails when the door is closed.

Abstract: A camera or other device having a rechargeable battery is intended to be stored normally in a cavity of a charging-stand cradle in order to restore an electrical charge to the battery. The cradle includes a plug module that may be electrically connected to a standard alternating current (AC) outlet when the plug module is affixed to the cradle. Conversely, the plug module may be separated from the cradle to connect it to a remote AC outlet.

Abstract: A water-resistant housing that contains a camera has a seesaw portion which, when manually depressed at a region opposite a shutter release button of the camera, is pivoted towards the camera to depress the button and simultaneously at a region remote from the button is pivoted away from the camera. As a result, when the housing with the camera is placed under water, the water pressure balances the two regions instead of depressing the region opposite the button to possibly depress the button.

Abstract: In a photographic camera, a cassette carrier having a chamber for receiving a film cassette is movable outwardly from the camera body to permit one to insert and remove the film cassette. A drive spindle for the film cassette and a coaxial gear are rotatably mounted on a spring-urged slider supported on the carrier. Datum projections extend from the camera body to enter the chamber when the carrier is moved to return the chamber to inside the camera body, to shift the cassette from a centered position in engagement with the drive spindle to a datum position in the chamber. Simultaneously, a datum stop located in the camera body abuts the slider to shift the slider with the cassette and to limit the extent to which the coaxial gear will mesh with a driving gear rotatably supported in the camera body.

Abstract: A photographic camera to be used with a film cassette having film speed indicator means movable between a storage position in which it cannot be detected to provide an indication of the speed of a filmstrip inside the cassette and a use position in which it can be detected to provide the indication, is characterized in that a loading chamber is configured to receive the film cassette with the film speed indicator means in the storage position, actuation means is located in the loading chamber for moving the film speed indicator from the storage position to the use position responsive to insertion of the film cassette into the loading chamber, and sensing means is located in the loading chamber for detecting the film speed indicator means when it is in the use position to determine the speed of the filmstrip inside the cassette.

Abstract: A photographic film processor for conveying exposed film along a serpentine film path through a series of processing racks in a respective series of processing tanks, each processing rack including a sprocket-driven endless timing belt mounted for rotation on the rack and having outer teeth for engagement with an apertured film leader card to move the film leader card along a part of the path of the timing belt, the outer teeth being laterally expandable for positive engagement with the leader card, and contractible for disengagement from it. Alternatively, the outer teeth are laterally contractible for positive engagement with the leader card, and expandible for disengagement from it.In another embodiment, the endless timing belt has spaced flexible edge tabs to pass through the apertures of a leader card to engage the card.

Abstract: A camera body has an elongate recess which is dimensioned to receive a looped wrist strap to substantially integrate the wrist strap with the camera body. When the wrist strap is in the elongate recess, it slightly protrudes from the recess to permit it to be used further as a fixed hand grip for the camera body.

Abstract: A photographic camera comprises a camera body having a pair of opposite ends and respective front openings for a taking ends and a viewfinder situated between the opposite ends, and a pair of cover parts normally substantially encasing the camera body. According to the invention, the camera body and the cover parts are connected for pivotal movement of the cover parts relative to the camera body to a convering or closed position encasing the camera body and to a fixed open position removed from the front openings to uncover the taking lens and the viewfinder and to form respective enclosed spaces between the opposite ends and the cover parts to allow one to manually grasp the cover parts at separate locations extended from the opposite ends.

Abstract: In a film cassette, a cassette shell has a pair of throat portions which together define a film passageway to the exterior of the shell, a spool is supported for rotation in an unwinding direction inside the shell, a convoluted film roll whose outermost convolution is a film leader is coiled about the spool, and a stripper is located immediately inwardly of the passageway to be received between a leading end of the film leader and a next-inward convolution of the film roll responsive to rotation of the spool in the unwinding direction to divert the leading end into the passageway to permit the leading end to be advanced from the shell.

Abstract: An electrical drive motor system for a camera having a read head for reading magnetically encoded data from a filmstrip during a reel-to-reel transport of the film, includes a mechanism for storing energy in a mechanical motor spring. The energy stored in the spring is used to temporarily continue or complete the advance of the film with the electric motor shut off, to allow the read head to operate without electromagnetic interference from the electric motor.

Abstract: A film cassette comprises a film spool supported within a lighttight shell for rotation to thrust a filmstrip coiled about the spool to the exterior of the shell whether the filmstrip is unexposed or is only partly exposed, and a film exposure status indicator secured to the spool for rotation from an unexposed position for providing a visible indication the filmstrip is unexposed to respective partly exposed and fully exposed positions for providing visible indications the filmstrip is only partly exposed and is substantially exposed. According to the invention, the spool includes a coaxial opening in which is located integral one-way access means having different rotational orientations when the status indicator is in its unexposed, partly exposed and fully exposed positions for allowing various only one-way access to the coaxial opening corresponding to the respective positions of the status indicator, in order to engage and rotate the spool.

Abstract: A viewfinder in a camera includes visual composition means manually operable to change from a horizontal frame view of a subject to be photographed to a vertical frame view of the subject without having to change the horizontal orientation of the camera to a vertical one. If a vertical format of the subject is selected for picture-taking, the camera is changed to a vertical orientation and the visual composition means is manually released to return automatically to the horizontal frame view of the subject. Since the camera has been changed to a vertical orientation, the horizontal frame view will appear as a vertical one.

Abstract: A film cassette comprises a film spool supported inside a lighttight cassette shell for rotation to thrust a filmstrip coiled about the spool to the exterior of the shell whether the filmstrip is unexposed or is only partly exposed, and a film exposure status indicator supported for movement relative to the shell from an unexposed position to respective partly exposed and fully exposed positions for providing visible indications that the filmstrip is only partly exposed or is substantially exposed.

Abstract: A photographic camera includes a camera body and a cover/handle coupled together for limited sliding movement of the cover/handle along the camera body to project increasingly from one end of the camera body to uncover the camera body and, when projected from the one end the extent it can be projected, for limited pivotal movement of the cover/handle about the one end to permit the cover/handle to be manually grasped erect to hold the camera body steady in a horizontal orientation for picture-taking. According to the invention, the cover/handle is fixed releasably to the camera body when the cover/handle is slid to project from the one end of the camera body only a portion of the extent it can be projected. This permits the cover/handle to be manually grasped erect to hold the camera body steady in a vertical orientation for picture-taking.

Abstract: In a film cassette, a spool is supported for rotation in an unwinding direction inside a cassette shell, a convoluted film roll whose outermost convolution is a film leader is coiled in the unwinding direction about the spool, and a film stripper is located substantially adjacent a passageway to the exterior of the shell to be received between a leading end of the film leader and a next-inward convolution of the film roll responsive to rotation of the spool in the unwinding direction to divert the leading end into the passageway. According to the invention, the stripper is positioned to lie against the next-inward convolution of the film roll to generally ensure the stripper will be received between the leading end of the film leader and the next-inward convolution when the spool is rotated in the unwinding direction.