Iloca
was a German company which was founded in about 1948 by a man called
Illing - the name of the company (originally Ilca) is derived from
his name and the word "camera." A few years later it was
taken over by Wilhem Witt.
The Iloca Electric was introduced
in 1958 and seems to have been discontinued the following year,
after an aborted attempt to introduce a second model, the Iloca
Auto-Electric.
It is a 35 mm. camera with a motor drive powered by two 1.5 v. batteries.
Iloca claimed that the batteries would last for about 1,000 exposures.
The motor could give single shots or, with continuous pressure on
the release button, a series of shots at approximately one second
intervals.
The interchangeable lens mount is a bayonet fitting unique to this
camera; several lenses were available including 35 mm. f/4 Eurygon,
35 mm. f/4.5 Culmigon, 50 mm. f/1.9 Heliogon, 50 mm. f/1.9 Quinon,
50 mm. f/2.8 Culminar, 50 mm. f/2.8 Ysarex, and 135 mm. f/4 Rotelar.
The brilliant-frame viewfinder covers 35 mm. (whole area), 50 mm.
(outer frame) and 135 mm. (inner frame) lenses. A centre spot in
the viewfinder shows the coupled co-incident image rangefinder which
works for all lenses.
The built-in coupled match-needle selenium meter has both a top-plate
and viewfinder display.
The Synchro-Compur shutter offers 10 speeds from 1 second to 1/500
second, plus B. In addition, a time exposure scale is marked in
green for use with the B setting. The shutter has X and M synchronization
and there is a self-timer.
There is an accessory shoe on the top plate and a co-axial socket
for flash on the front of the camera.
The Iloca Electric is finished in grey plastic and satin chrome.
This camera was not cheap. In 1958 the Iloca Electric with 50 mm.
f/1.9 Rodenstock Heligon cost about £99 10s. whereas in 1959
the camera with 50 mm. f/2.8 Rodenstock Ysarex cost about £88.
The high price and short production period combine to make this
an unusual camera these days. It is even more difficult to find
within the UK as the camera was subject to import restrictions.
In the USA the Electric was marketed as the Graphic 35 Electric
by Graflex.
The Iloca Automatic is another
camera dating from about 1958. It was made with several different
lenses including a Rodenstock Ysarex 50 mm. f/2.8 lens, Cassarit
f/2.8 50 mm. lens and Heligon f/2 50 mm. lens. It was fitted with
a Compur-Rapid or a Synchro-Compur shutter. The camera has coupled
match-needle metering and a coupled rangefinder.It was also sold
as the Photix Automatic (but not, as far as I can see, in the UK).
Fitted with the Rodenstock Ysarex lens, it cost £52 6s. 2d.
in 1959. It does not appear to have been sold in the UK after 1959.
The Auto-Electric would have
been a cheaper Electric with a fixed lens, but in 1960 Agfa took
Iloca over and the Auto-Electric eventually became the Agfa Selecta-m.
Iloca cameras are generally under-appreciated by
collectors, perhaps because the most commonly seen Ilocas are simple
cameras like the Iloca Quick. The Electric is a much more interesting
and usable camera but it is also very difficult to track down -
but then for collectors, a lot of the fun is in the chase.