Irregular Regulas

by Helen Smith

Like any camera collector I know I should be ‘sensible’ and specialise. But then I’d miss the more affordable fun of collecting ‘less obvious cameras’. Affordable West German hobbyist cameras of the 1950’s are a case in point, and a personal favourite of mine is the King Regula range.

Most Regulas seen at camera fairs are the simpler 60s models – too basic to excite most collectors. However, earlier Regula cameras are more interesting. Regula-Werk King KG was based at Bad Liebenzell in the Black Forest area of West Germany. They only began camera production in 1949/50, but outlasted many competitors, surviving until the early 1980’s when enthusiasm for Kodak’s Disc format contributed to their demise. In July 1936, a Mr. And Mrs. King had opened a small factory in Pforzheim to manufacture small electrical components and radio parts. By 1938 expanding business meant a move to new premises in Bad Liebenzell, a nearby spa town. No major damage occurred during WW2, but postwar growth was delayed as the Allies confiscated most of the factory equipment.

Mr. King and many of his workers were skilled watch and clockmakers – the area’s local industry. King was interested in photography and dreamed of making his own line of cameras, of good quality yet affordable. In July 1949 the prototype Regula I was shown at a local photoshow. The first Regulas were quite basic 35mm cameras, typical of the time, with f4.5, f3.5 and f2.8 lenses in various leaf shutters. They had manually-cocked shutters, plain viewfinders and were quite ‘chubby’ but light to handle. A lever wind was added later. The distinctive King logo of a K in a crowned shield was engraved on top of all but the earliest variants. The models were identified in script over the film gate, and included the I-A, I-B, I-C, I-D, I-E, I-F, I-P, II and others. King had introduced a special anodised aluminium finish during production, called ‘Eloxal’ and said to be ‘harder than steel’. Sadly, this claim was optimistic, but a clean Regula has a pearly, grease-resistant finish. Prior to this, they had used a similarly hardwearing ‘burnished’ finish, with a soft mirror-like polish.

A new design appeared in 1953. Slimmer and compact, it carried the King logo as a separate enamelled badge on the camera body. The leverwind automatically wound the shutter if a film was loaded, using an internal stout, steel ‘watch chain’. Many variants were introduced, with combinations of extinction meters, uncoupled rangefinders, then coupled rangefinders. Model numbers similar to those in the first range (IP.a, ID, IIa) and still not marked externally. The top model of this range was the Regula Cita, which had a coupled rangefinder and did display its model name, in script on its front – but inside it was marked K8! It also appeared as the Regula Gipsy for the US market. The Cita was the basis of the most collectible Regula, the Citalux (or Citalux 300) – dazzlingly finished in gold plate and maroon leather!

These Regulas were built in a new factory next to the old one – on 2 November 1951, the old factory had burnt down in a fire. The workers managed to get it reopened in only two weeks (with a celebratory party!). It continued producing the first series Regulas for some time alongside the new ones ‘next door’.

By around 1956 the ‘III series’, began to appear. These were larger but still fairly light cameras with a smooth outline and rounded ends. They had leverwinds and worked with no film loaded (no watch chain!). British collectors are probably familiar with the basic model of the range, which was made for Photopia of Newcastle – the Mastra V35. It is easily found in Britain and is far more common than the others. In America it appeared as the USC 35 IIa. It had a plain viewfinder, front-cell scale focussed f2.8 45mm Cassar lens in a basic Vero shutter, and no meter or rangefinder. It was actually one of the later models to be produced, and lacked the cosmetic ‘trimmings’ of the Regula-branded models.

The most basic of these was the Regula IIIa, similar to the Mastra but with an LV-coupled Prontor SVS shutter (giving a full speed range) and self timer, and the characteristic III-series frontplate. This was a flat rectangular Eloxal plate, with distinctive chrome-black-chrome stripes each side. The King logo stood at the top of the left-hand stripe. The same lens as the Mastra’s was carried in an impressive-looking lens barrel with a rear scalloped collar which looked like a focus ring, but wasn’t. I have an example of a Regula IIIa which instead looks just like a Mastra, but has a Pronto shutter with self timer. I have never seen another like it – it seems late-production, perhaps built to use up parts.

The Regula IIIb was similar to the ‘dressy’ IIIa but had a lidded, two-range Gossen uncoupled meter, plus a printed, reflected bright frame viewfinder. It was fitted with a Rodenstock Trinar f2.8 45mm lens or the Cassar.

The Regula IIIc is a rather rare bird, barely covered in sales literature of the time or today’s books. It had no light meter, but offered a long-base coupled rangefinder and interchangeable lenses using a unique bayonet mount fitting (though variants were used by Braun and Photavit). Lenses from Enna, Steinheil and ISCO were marketed. The IIIc had no brightlines, but an accessory finder was sold. The Prontor SVS used a second set of blades behind the first for robustness.

The Regula IIId was the metered equivalent of the IIIc, incorporating the IIIb’s Gossen meter. The coupled rangefinder was a different design with a shorter base than the IIIc’s, but very effective. The IIId was the top model of this range.

A fixed-lens version of the IIId was the Cita III. It looked similar but was offered with either a unit-focused f2.8 45mm Steinheil Cassar S or an f2.8 50mm Carl Zeiss Tessar. A name variant, the Regula RM, was identical, with the same lens choice. Both are reasonably common, but I have an RM fitted with a fixed f1.9 45mm Enna Ennalyt. I have only found one other reference to this model and no other example. Perhaps it was a special order item for the US market.

The RM underwent a redesign and seems to have replaced the Cita III. A brightline finder similar to the IIIb’s was combined with the coupled rangefinder (redesigned again), and a single-range Bewi uncoupled meter was fitted. This had no lid and was operated by pressing a red button in the centre of its dial, which freed the meter needle to allow eye-level readings. Intermediate versions also exist (old meter, new finder). The changes made to the RM were also applied to the Regula IIId, which gained permanently-visible multiple brightlines, leading to a rather cluttered view (though removing the need to buy an accessory finder!).

The rarest model of all was the Regula R, which was a meterless first-type RM (or thus a fixed lens IIIc!). It shared the IIIc’s long-base rangefinder and topplate, but the rest of the camera was identical to the Cita III/RM.

A late addition to the series was the IIIbk. Unlike the IIIb, it used a single-range, lidless Metrawatt coupled meter. The shutter was a Prontor SLK. A housing between the front of the topplate and the lens barrel covered the meter coupling mechanism and carried the name – Regula IIIbk, or Regula IIIbk Automatic. At the time, automatic simply meant coupled manual metering! The lens was the Rodenstock f2.8 45mm Trinar, front-cell focused. The brightline finder of the IIIb was retained, but the topplate window layout was completely rearranged.

Alongside the IIIbk, a new top model was added – the Regula IIId Automatic. This looked nearly identical to the redesigned Regula IIId and sold alongside it, but like the IIIbk it used a Prontor SLK shutter and coupled meter – this time still a Bewi.

By 1959, the Regula III’s started to be phased out, and new, simpler designs replaced the cheaper ones. However, there were two new top models both were based on the III-series. The Super and Supermatic (soon renamed Super Automatic) replaced the IIId and IIId Automatic respectively. The specifications were similar to their predecessors, but they had a slightly larger, restyled body and they incorporated a multi-frame finder with manual frame selection. These frames were much clearer, being projected, with automatic parallax correction. During production the shutters were upgraded to a 1/500 top speed, and the Bewi meters lost their fragile push-button systems (but also the ability to take readings at eye level). The King badge was a vitreous enamelled item in metallic red and gold, and the entire upper-front half of the main chassis was clad in vertically-rippled Eloxal finished alloy! This makes the Supers a rather unique-looking design – perhaps not to everyone’s taste – though I have a late-model Super Automatic on which this trim was deleted.

A lot of affordable fun can be had from hunting down the confusing spread of Regula models out there, and they are enjoyable to handle and use. Cameras of this category are rewarding targets for economical collecting – just leave enough for me!

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