Clarus MS-35

I'm going to post number 1 and the end of the glorious rabbit hole in my next listing. For now rniederman turned me on to an amazing camera in one of his posts that lead me to a "Squirrel!", moment. Thank you rniederman for educating me on this wonderful camera and a proud addition to my collection. So if you have a little time check out his post, if you haven't already. Here's my version of this amazing piece. The Clarus MS-35 was produced from 1946-1952 by the Clarus Camera Manufacturing Company of Minneapolis, MN. Designed by Paul Mann, it was the only camera model of that company. Due to bad publicity they ended out shutting their doors for good. Originally attempting to bring a 35mm, built in the US, that could compete with Leica or Japanese models of it's day at a reasonable cost.

There were what appears to be three major groups of serial number runs for this model. Earliest group starting in 1946 and had six numbers. In about 1948, group two, began and had 4 to 5 numbers. Then the last group produced from about 1950 through the end of production in 1952 ( considered the best built run) had numbers starting with the letter "B". With this being said this example was produced in 1949 or 1950 with serial #15441. To make things more complicated, as if they weren't already, there were models produced that had no visible serial number at all.

It didn't come this way, when I purchased it, but does have all correct equipment. As one can tell, I was able to get my hands on the Clarus under mount flash assembly and Elgeet 4.5/4" 100mm lens. From what I could find, info wise, it appears as though the only 35mm lens Elgeet ever made was for the Clarus and possibly Exakta. Elgeet was, and is, a power house, in it's own right, with optics. Known for 8mm and 16mm motion film lenses. Founded in 1946 by David Goldstein in Rochester, NY. Which produced lenses for naval tracking and adopted the name"Navitar", which is still in business today, producing high end lenses for special applications. Also known for producing aspheric and enlarger lenses early on.

This example just went through a CLA. So all is clean, fully functional, and ready to roll...(film). SMURK

P.S. Next ...back to number 1 on the count down.