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Specification

Manufacturer description #1

35 mm. Precision

THE REID CAMERA and ENLARGER

The REID 35 mm. High Precision Camera is manufactured in the works of Reid & Sigrist Ltd., where famous instruments have been made for many years.

LENS. Specially designed by Taylor, Taylor & Hobson Ltd. of Leicester. f/2-5 cm. anastigmat lens coated on all glass-to-air surfaces. Other focal lengths are in course of development.

RANGE FINDER. Twin sighting range and view finder. Range finder coupled to lens.

SHUTTER. Focal Plane shutter with speeds 1 to 1/1000 sec.

Manufactured by

REID AND SIGRIST LTD.

BRAUNSTONE WORKS, BRAUNSTONE, LEICESTER, ENG.

/ From the British Journal Almanac (1951) /

Manufacturer description #2

Reid 35 mm. High Precision Camera with F/2 Taylor-Hobson coated lens; focal-plane shutter, 1 sec. to 1/1000th; coupled rangefinder; interlocking film wind. Now only available fully synchronized.

/ From the British Journal Almanac (1954) /

From the British Journal of Photography Annual (1975)

Another 'British' camera was the Reid 35mm coupled rangefinder model, fitted with either Taylor Hobson or Ross coated lenses... it was a close copy of the early Leitz Leica III series and was first seen at a small works to the west of London but in 1948 was advertised by Reid and Sigrist from an address in Leicester. This camera was eventually another casualty, because while Reid and Sigrist were getting into production with an old design, Leitz were busy preparing new ones which were to materialise within a very few years.

From the Photographic Collectors' Society Newsletter (No. 1, April 1976)

The 1939-1945 war had convinced the British Government of the need for a home-produced precision 35mm. camera and Sir Stafford Cripps was one who actively supported the idea. The Leicester firm of Reid and Sigrist was supplied with drawings of the Leica IIIb and the result was the Reid camera. Although the first advertisements for it had appeared as early as 1947/48 the camera didn't make its appearance until early 1951. Reid and Sigrist were a well-known and respected firm of instrument makers but their introduction to precision camera making brought delays as manufacturing problems had to be overcome. The finished product, the Reid, had the same specifications as the Leica IIIb and was in no way inferior to it in construction or finish.

The lens for the Reid was a 5cm. f/2 Taylor, Taylor and Hobson Anastigmat in a collapsible mount. It was of the same very high quality and remained the standard lens for the Reid. Other lenses were announced to be in the course of preparation in 1951 but these apparently didn't eventuate.

In 1958 the Reid became the Model III due to the introduction that year of three other models with reduced specifications. These were Model II without the slow-speeds, Model I without the rangefinder as well but equipped with a direct vision optical viewfinder and Model Ia which had an additional accessory shoe in place of the viewfinder.

The British Air Ministry bought a significant part of the Reid production and it was largely to meet their requirements that the Models I were introduced. The Model II was discontinued at the end of 1964 together with the Ia and the Models I and III remained in production for several years longer.

From the editor

A British Leica copy announced by Reid & Sigrist at 1947 British Industries Fair and sold from 1951 to 1964. The finest made British camera in terms of the quality of its engineering, reliability and body finish. Essentially, it is a close copy of the Leica IIIb, manufactured in Britain using documents and drawings taken from the Leitz factory in Germany. The earliest bodies did not have flash synchronization, the very first bodies with synchronization had only a single socket, while the later bodies had dual flash sync sockets labelled "E" for electronic and "B" for bulb. Rough estimates suggest that no more than 1,600 Reid III cameras were produced.

The camera body was accompanied by the collapsible Taylor-Hobson 2 inch f/2 (Anastigmat) lens or with one of the Xtralux lenses manufactured by Ross (London): 50/2 rigid, 50/2 collapsible, 50/3.5 collapsible. Accessory telephoto lenses were Xtralux 90/3.5 and 135/4.5.

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