Hyper camera series

The Hyper camera series is a view camera design manufactured by the Themiclesian firm UNIOP since 1913 and comprises of several iterations and variations. It was meant to be a highly portable camera for outdoor work and was a sister product to the larger but heavier Portable Camera, which was discontinued in 1971 and despite its name intended for indoor work. The current design, the Hyper Pro III, has been in production in small quantities since 2002 from UNIOP's Themiclesian workshop in Ku-ngwyan.

Features

General design

The Hyper is a foldable view camera, which consists of a lens mounted to the front standard and a focusing glass mounted to the rear standard; the two standards are connected by a bellows, which allows the distance between the film and glass to be adjusted, achieving focus of the desired subject. The maximum bellows length of the Hyper Camera, as of the Pro III, is 36 inches which can focus a 900 mm lens at infinity.

Movements

Unlike many other field cameras, the Hyper allows both front and rear standards movements, since the rear standard is not rigidly attached to the carrying frame. All movements are geared from the Pro I model, which was introduced in 1971.

Rangefinder

Newer models of the Hyper manufactured since the 1960s include features like a rangefinder and the patented multi-point illuminometer. The rangefinder, made for easy focusing on distant objects without using a loupe, was suspended from the inside of the carrying frame; it does not use the image from the taking lens, so there is a slight parallex error, which is acceptable as it is only used to achieve focus and not to compose.

Illuminometer

The illuminometer was achieved with a partial mirror between the focusing glass and the fresnel glass. This mirror beams a small part of the light hitting the focusing glass downwards onto a matrix of photovoltaic panels, which moves dials to indicate the amount of exposure on each of the panels which in turn reflect the light on various points on the focusing glass.

Movable fresnel screen

A fresnel screen is used to direct and concentrate light that would otherwise be diffuse, thus increasing its apparent brightness when viewed at a specific angle. Fresnel screens have long been used to enhance the image seen on the focusing glass, which otherwise appears dim and faded. However, the ridges on fresnels do create artifacts that can challenge the photographer's judgment of the whole image, and once installed it cannot be removed on most cameras without disassembly. The Hyper Camera permits the user to lower the fresenl screen (into the bellows) with a mechanical lever and thus to look at the ground glass image itself.

Filter mount

Since view camera lenses almost never offer zoom capability, a photographer is likely to carry a variety of lenses to cope with different subjects and compositions. To carry filters for all lenses often creates clutter. The Hyper Camera's solution to this is to include a square filter mount on the front standard, permitting the photographer to change lens without changing filter.

Model history

began as a product of UNIOP's commercial rival, the Lightning Optics Company, first sold under this name in 1900. At that time, UNIOP's camera body was what is now known as the Portable Camera, which shot a 11 in × 13 in (280 mm × 330 mm) film or plate negative. UNIOP eventually merged with Lightning Optics and took over manufacturing of the Hyper Camera, which shot a smaller 7 in × 9 in (180 mm × 230 mm) negative.

Unlike conventional cameras of its time, which usually consisted of two boxes sliding into each other, the Hyper formed most of its camera body with the bellows, which permitted an even greater range of focus distances and reduced weight, but that reduced weight also left it more susceptible to vibrations.

Once taken over by UNIOP in 1913, the Hyper Camera went through a progress of technological improvement seeking to bring the technical and artistic capability of stationary cameras to it. As a camera for field use, the Hyper had to be protected against bumps and drops, but a sturdy shell would reduce portability; thus, the shells of the camera were made to be part of the rail on which the front and rear standards slid. When folded, the front and rear stanards slid into each other completely into a case that was no thicker than 3 inches.