Photographica Pages

An online guide to collectable cameras and related stuff

Kemper Kombi

The Kombi was introduced in 1892 and sold by the tens of thousands for a number of years. One of the tiniest and neatest box cameras ever made, the Kombi got its name from being "A Combined Camera and Graphoscope" (the words actually engraved on the front panel). A graphoscope is a viewer. The film was a transparency, and could be reloaded into the camera after processing--the back of the camera was removed, the camera turned around and used as a viewer. Given the numbers that were made there should still be a few available somewhere, but . . . These cameras are highly sought after and are rarely ever seen anymore.

The Kombi was the first miniature rollfilm camera, and the first rollfilm camera that Kodak produced a custom size film for that they did not make.