The Rilex: A little known American made press view camera

I came across Giovanni Savino’s blog post today detailing the Rilex press camera – a camera I’ve never even heard of until now.  Made from polished cast aluminum and machined parts, it’s a neat little camera for sure and simply amazing that a husband and wife team built over 800 of them on their own perhaps in their evenings.  This takes 2.25 by 3.25 sheet film (6×9 ?).    I have a Grafmatic 6 sheet holder that I bought for my Linhof Tech 70 that would probably work with Giovanni’s Rilex.

Read his post here: http://giovannisavinophotography.com/blog/2015/01/the-rilex-a-little-story-about-a-tiny-american-camera/

And there are few more pictures of a model B here on Worthpoint showing the back and sides.  The back plane appears to be cast and polished.  It also looks like the front rails can be extended with extensions that screw in.

I was wondering if such a small production camera could be successfully built and sold today, but then it dawned on me – of course it could and it would probably be easier now than then thanks to kickstarter and other online venues.  So what are you waiting for!

 

 

 

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