Produced around 1955 by Suzuki the Camera Lite is a Spy camera hidden in a zippo-like lighter.
It was produced as a simplified version of another Spy Camera, the Echo 8. In 1953 the Echo 8 made an appearance in movie 'Roman Holiday'. A reporter, Gregory Peck, enlists a photographer to take some clandestine photographs of Audrey Hepburn with his trusty Echo 8 cigarette lighter/camera. Suzuki Optical, the manufacturer of the Echo 8, was caught completely off guard by the publicity and the massive demand for the Echo 8 and decided to produce a more accessible simplified version of the camera in 1955 : The Camera Lite.
It still had a cigarette lighter, but this new version had a less-expensive, fixed-focus lens producing 6x6 mm format images on tiny 8 mm film cassettes. The 'simplified' parts are that this model only had one shutter speed - 1/50, a fixed aperture, and a simpler, non-optical viewfinder.
The resulting camera is hardly usable and is probably more a novelty camera than an actual spy camera, but it is an incredible collectible bringing you back to one of the most iconic movies of all time.
Discover the club's camera collection.
99 Cameras Club for updates.
Read the term and conditions.
Note : This Collectible is not an official product from the represented camera manufacturer. It is a replica of an individual camera from the club's collection and holds no rights or relationships with its manufacturer. It should be regarded only as a token of patronage to the 99 Cameras Club.
Produced around 1955 by Suzuki the Camera Lite is a Spy camera hidden in a zippo-like lighter.
It was produced as a simplified version of another Spy Camera, the Echo 8. In 1953 the Echo 8 made an appearance in movie 'Roman Holiday'. A reporter, Gregory Peck, enlists a photographer to take some clandestine photographs of Audrey Hepburn with his trusty Echo 8 cigarette lighter/camera. Suzuki Optical, the manufacturer of the Echo 8, was caught completely off guard by the publicity and the massive demand for the Echo 8 and decided to produce a more accessible simplified version of the camera in 1955 : The Camera Lite.
It still had a cigarette lighter, but this new version had a less-expensive, fixed-focus lens producing 6x6 mm format images on tiny 8 mm film cassettes. The 'simplified' parts are that this model only had one shutter speed - 1/50, a fixed aperture, and a simpler, non-optical viewfinder.
The resulting camera is hardly usable and is probably more a novelty camera than an actual spy camera, but it is an incredible collectible bringing you back to one of the most iconic movies of all time.
Discover the club's camera collection.
99 Cameras Club for updates.
Read the term and conditions.
Note : This Collectible is not an official product from the represented camera manufacturer. It is a replica of an individual camera from the club's collection and holds no rights or relationships with its manufacturer. It should be regarded only as a token of patronage to the 99 Cameras Club.