Introduction and contents

In 1947 San Giorgio in Genova manufactured the Parva camera. Only nine where made making it one of the rarest of subminiatures. It used 16mm film in special cassettes.

It was packaged in a metal case and had a table top tripod and telephoto lens made for it.

The San Giorgio Essegi f3.5 20mm lens with aperture stops of 3.5, 4.5, 6.3 and 8 and has a cloth focal plane shutter with speeds of 1/40, 1/100 and 1/150. The viewfinder is screwed on top of the camera.

The lens focus from 0.3m to infinity.

One sold at Christies for 16,000USD and another for 6,500GBP a year later.

Ebay 2006/05/20 11,500EUR + commission

See "Spy Camera" page 46 Michael Pritchard and Douglas St. Denny.


Go to the 16mm Collection indexLast updated 20th May 2006